


Don't Let Time Forget

by Fire_Inu_Princess



Category: Milo Murphy's Law
Genre: Accidents, Amnesia, Balthazar needs a hug, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Humming, Love, M/M, Memory, Missions, Music, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pain, Pining, Please bare with me, Romance, Shock, Time Travel, Trans Vinnie Dakota, Vinnie needs a hug, at some point, first attempt of writing trans, not right now though, partners, they need an ass kicking, transphobes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:07:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28060638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fire_Inu_Princess/pseuds/Fire_Inu_Princess
Summary: Balthazar Cavendish was in an accident as a teenager and lost a good amount of his memories. The only thing that he can recall is bits and pieces of memories of his time at a camp with a friend from his childhood. A voice, and a promise to her to become a Time Agent. Now that he is an agent, he is hoping to find his friend in the hopes of learning who she is, what their relationship was like at the camp and if they knew each other outside of the camp. Though he has had no such luck.Vinnie Dakota is Balthazar's partner and trying to learn what he can about his partner. Learning that the man has lost his memories when he doesn't react to him in the way he had hoped. So figured, maybe the man didn't remember nor, did he care. Instead, Vinnie tries to make the best of both his life as well as the partnership that he has with his new partner and soon to be friend. Even hoping for something more, hoping that maybe something good would finally come to it for, it would make all that time waiting all these years so totally worth it.
Relationships: Balthazar Cavendish & Vinnie Dakota, Balthazar Cavendish/Vinnie Dakota
Comments: 20
Kudos: 20





	1. Promise of a Past

_It was a beautiful sunny day. The area was filled with the sound of music and vocalists in the distance. Honestly, it was something that anyone who loved music could appreciate. A young boy looked at the open field. It was filled with cabins, tents, and even a large building in the distance. There was even a beach there though the water wasn’t of any interest to the boy._

_His honey blonde locks was short and blew gently in the wind. His thick black framed glasses hid his turquoise coloured eyes as he let out a soft sigh._

_It was the last day of camp, something that had been a wonderful day, he was sure of it from the feelings that welled up within him. Though at the same time there was something more to it that he just couldn’t seem to recall about everything. A frown marked itself upon his face as he rubbed the back of his head. Yet a feeling of sadness that he couldn’t explain seemed to flow through him in that moment._

_“Balthazar!” came a girl’s voice, causing him to blink his eyes as he looked over at his shoulder. Unsure as to who would be calling him. But it was the same voice that he would always hear. As if it was always guiding him in some way or another. No matter if it was dream, or reality. He would always hear that voice, speaking to him in his dreams more than in reality._

_“Yes?” He calmly said, tilting his head to the side in confusion._

_“Promise me something?” She said with a smile, her face blurred out from his memory. He was unsure as to what she looked like, nor did he even have a picture of her to say the least._

_“Sure, what is it?” He couldn’t even say her name, it was as if even the name itself had been blocked from his memory. Something that he couldn’t ever bring up for himself, even if he tried to think back to it his memories of this time were mostly forgotten._

_The girl titled her head, he could almost see a big smile seeming to grow on her blurred out face. It made him want to reach out and hug her in some way, yet he wasn’t sure why that was in the first place. Then she grabbed a hold of his hand as she said “Promise me that when we’re both older, that we’ll both become time travelers. I want to make a small difference in the world.” She wanted to make a difference in the world? Hm, quiet an honorable thing to say the least._

_“Of course. I will become a time traveler. We’ll both make a difference in the world, no matter how big or small. We’ll both become heroes and save the world from any perils.” He vowed with a smile on his face._

_The girl giggled happily, though there were tears dripping down her face. He wanted to reach out and hold her though a part of him was held back by the memory. That was a strange thing for sure though the young boy was unsure as to why that is. “I also want to give you something to remember me by.” She said before reaching into her pocket and held out a pocket watch._

_Balthazar couldn’t help but blink as he stared at it in shock. It was silver, or at least it looked like silver to him. Maybe nickel? He wasn’t sure, but it was rather nice. He couldn’t help but look up at her with a frown on his face. “I can’t accept this.” He whispered._

_“I want you to have it! It’s a means of remembering me by.” She giggled a little, though even that was starting to sound a little choked up._

_Though… he knew that he had to do something for her. Reaching into his pocket, the small boy calmly said “I’ll accept this gift if I can give you something in return.”_

_“But-“_

_“No buts.” Balthazar said, giving her a look before pulling out his gift. Even the gift itself was blurred out for him, unsure as to what was wrong with these memories of his. But the girl just seemed to be staring at him, he could swear that he could tell she was blinking at him before they had pretty much traded their gifts. Balthazar placed the watch in his pocket, and put the clip on his button. He smiled a little before looking up at the girl with a frown on his face._

_“We’ll see each other again Balthy. I’m sure of it! Just promise me that you’ll never forget our promise okay? That we’ll make our way to be time travelers and make a difference.” She said with a smile, or at least he was sure that it was a smile. Unsure as to what it was, he couldn’t be sure as to what it was that he was seeing at this point._

_“I promise.” He whispered softly before a car honked behind him. Blinking his eyes, the young boy looked over his shoulder as he saw his parents sitting in the car waiting for him. Frowning, he sighed softly before picking up his bags and looked at his friend. “We’ll meet again. I’m sure of it someday.” He gave a small smile before he started to walk away._

_“Promise me Balthy!”_

_“I promise! We’ll meet again!”_

Eyes slowly opened, he couldn’t help but stare up at his ceiling. It was that dream again, one of a time that he couldn’t really remember. Yet, that was one of the few memories that would keep popping up now and again. A memory of a promise nearly forgotten, not to time, but because of an accident.

Balthazar Cavendish, a recruit (now possible agent) for the Bureau of Time Travel, at the age of fourteen years of age lost his memories due to a car accident that both he and his parents were in. He doesn’t know how it happened, but from what he was told his parents weren’t paying attention. The roads were covered in snow and ice, they had hit a patch of black ice and crashed into a tree.

He must have flown out of the car or something because when he woke up he could faintly recall seeing someone standing over him. Panic in their eyes as they checked him over though he just couldn’t see them clearly enough to know who it was. Maybe an EMT checking him over because he was a child with a future ahead of him.

Unsure, though it was possible.

Only thing, he was the only one that survived the crash. His parents had sadly passed due to serious injuries.

Taking a deep breath, the young man pushed himself up from his bed and rubbed at his shoulders a little. The bed was rather stiff, and he knew that he had to get out of bed to get ready for the day. The dreams could wait, and knew that he would have to think about it later.

Once out of bed, he made his way over to the small kitchen of his apartment. Making himself a simple omelet for breakfast. Nothing interesting really, but it would get him through the day. Today he would find out who his partner would be, though he couldn’t help but grunt about the reminder of his test. Honestly, he was surprised he even passed with what had happened.

He had been so excited to take the test, even tried to reward himself with a lollipop…

Only to have the car door open and some rugged man burst into his car. Stole his treat and pushed him to the passenger seat. And then for the guy to travel to the past because he wanted a burrito. Nearly risking their lives in the process… but it turned out to be a good mission. Unexpected, but… it had strangely worked out in the end to say the least. They had saved those kids, and for that he would be forever grateful.

Taking a deep breath, the young man got to work on eating his meal before getting himself dressed in his signature outfit. A blue long sleeved shirt with green rings around his wrists, a little further up his arm between his wrists and elbows. Green shoulder pads, green ring around his waist almost like a belt and then there is the green collar that leaves a long thick green line going down the front with dark blue buttons. Long white pants and to go with his outfit was a pair of black boots that ended just below his knees.

Looking at his reflection, the young man couldn’t help but stare. Unsure as to what he was to witness, what he would go through once he got back home he knew that panic was going through him quicker and quicker when he couldn’t eat. Barely slept till well, he was actually able to sleep. Must have been what brought on his dream again.

It was the one thing that would pester him from years since the accident. Honestly, it was both unhelpful as well as annoying. Frustrating. Being raised by his grandparents, it made it difficult as the only clue they could give him was that he had gone to a music camp years before hand but there was no way to locate what the gift he gave away was, nor who the girl was.

She was the key to his lost memories, he knew that for sure but he just had no true way of remembering her. Not a name, not her face… just her voice. Then there was the promise that he made to her, that they would meet up again as Time Agents, and that was something that he had kept no matter what. Though… he hadn’t been able to find her at all. It just seemed as if she hadn’t shown up or due to his own lack of memory that she hadn’t found him yet.

Since he himself, hadn’t changed much though he was much taller than people thought he would become. So, perhaps it was possible that she didn’t know who he was anymore? No, no one could be that blind, he was still the same, even kept the same style for his glasses so his childhood friend would find him and… well he wasn’t sure.

Taking a deep breath, hoping to calm himself down the young man double checked himself in the mirror to make sure that everything was in order. Once he was sure of himself being clean and proper in his appearance Balthazar grabbed his wallet and made his way out of his apartment. Maybe once he starts getting paid he’ll get himself a bigger apartment. He just hoped that everything would be in a better state for him.

Outside, the young man couldn’t help but look up at the sky as he let out a soft sigh. “Please let me find her and get some answers to those memories. What did I experience at the camp and why am I so desperate to remember her? The feeling I feel… what I feel… it feels different compared to friends.” Balthazar let out a last sigh before he pushed himself to walk down the street for the thirty minute walk toward the BTT building.

Honestly, what could he be expecting in the long run, he didn’t know but he just hoped that maybe the longer he worked in the building the more of a chance that he would be able to find his childhood friend. Maybe even get some information on who she is and… no, he knew that she had to be there. Somehow.

But, this was the start of his life now. Once he was able to start he would hopefully find a means to remember everything that he had forgotten. Hoping that his childhood friend would be the one to help him unlock his memories and maybe even help him understand what was their true relationship. But at the same time he was almost afraid of what it was that he would find. Maybe he would remember, maybe he wouldn’t though he wasn’t sure what it would be. Though… he just hoped that he would like what he remembered.

* * *

Taking a deep breath, Balthazar stood by the door of the office. He knew that behind this door was the start of his job. His destiny, fate? Whatever you would like to call it. Yet, a part of him was scared, thinking that he was going to be sent away or they would think he wasn’t good enough to be an agent. Of course, Balthazar knew that he would be at the bottom of the totem pole so to speak. Though, at the same time he wasn’t sure what it was that he should expect.

Breathing deeply, hoping to calm himself down. Knowing that if he allowed himself to panic that he could end up getting himself kicked out before even starting his first assignment.

Closing his eyes, taking another deep breath before he heard the _”come in”_ from the other side of the door.

Opening his eyes, Balthazar blinked a couple times. Wringing his hands together as the door opened before him. He walked in and saw a short man with curly black hair and very pale hair. Blue eyes maybe? He wasn’t sure, he was struggling to stay focus and keep calm at the moment. Looking over at the man he saw that the pale, black clad man held up a piece of paper. Most likely having information on Balthazar.

“Cavendish… here is your new partner Vinnie Dakota.”

Soon someone got up from their seat and turned around. It was a tanned skinned man with thick curly hair like a small afro. Then he had a pair of orange framed tinted glasses. His clothes was a white undershirt with a black leather jacket. Green cargo pants and black combat boots. Though Balthazar blinked when he saw the man had a gold chain around his neck.

He couldn’t help but rub at his temple before taking a deep breath. Feeling a headache coming on, though wasn’t sure why that was. Taking a deep breath, trying to collect himself as he finally recalled were he had seen him. “It’s you!”

“Oh boy…” Vinnie said as he rubbed the back of his head, looking nervous.

“You two know each other?” asked their boss.

“Here it comes…” Vinnie said as he tightly shut his eyes.

Honestly, Balthazar had every right to report this man. He had broken rules and nearly sabotaged his chances of becoming an agent and losing his chances of becoming an agent. Looking at the tanned skinned man as he tried to think on what he was to do…

He wanted to report him.

Wanted to get him in trouble or worse…

But, there was a part of him that knew that wouldn’t have been the right thing to do. More so with how they ended up doing a mission without even meaning to. As sure, the man had just originally stole the vehicle to get food, but it ended up with them saving two kids from some strange freak of an accident with them riding the back door of their bus while the bus was on some kind of rocket.

Unsure as to what this feeling was within his chest but knew that he had to do what was right. More than anything else, rather than follow the rules.

Taking a deep breath, the blonde calmly said “I’ll tell you what I know of this man. When someone is in danger… he is a good man to have around.” It seemed that the man slowly opened his eyes as he looked up at the blonde with wide eyes. It seemed that was something he hadn’t expected Balthazar to actually defend him when before he had threatened to report him for the improper use of the time vehicle.

It seemed that seeing this shock was something that Balthazar hadn’t expected in the first place. But seeing that shock, it kind of made the blonde feel his heart skip a beat for a moment. Unsure if that was due to how adorable the look was or if it was something more. Maybe he had some kind of health problem that he wasn’t aware of yet.

Holding out his hand, the blonde calmly said “Balthazar Cavendish. Pleased to make your acquaintance sir.”

Vinnie looked down at his hand for a moment. Trying to process what was going on only to blink before looking up and smiled. The smile made the blonde’s heart race for some reason. Soon, the curly haired man grabbed his hand as he said “Hey, and thanks.”

Honestly, he wanted to yell and actually expose this guy but… there was a part of him that didn’t want to at the same time. Taking a deep breath, Balthazar was about to say something till Vinnie just grinned more before wrapping an arm around the blonde’s shoulders. “Come on, let’s get some food! It’s on me!” Vinnie said before dragging the taller man toward the lunch room.

Honestly, Balthazar was starting to regret not alerting their boss about what had happened earlier.

Though there was still the part of him that didn’t want to reveal anything from their little misadventure. But at the same time, he wasn’t sure if he would even do that in the first place. Maybe this guy would know anything about his childhood friend. Wanting to know what he was to do, what he could do to find her. Unless it was against the rules of other agents discussing the locations of other agents? He couldn’t be sure, though at the same time he felt like he would learn something.

Once they got to the lunch room, Balthazar picked out something simple. Not really all that hungry though as he looked down at the shorter man as he grabbed a tray full of food. Something that made the blonde wonder how the heck this man could eat that much. Did the jacket hide a lot more than what he let on? He didn’t know but he was sure that he would learn something.

Taking a deep breath, they both sat down and started to eat their food.

“So, what made you want to be an agent?” asked Vinnie with a smile on his face.

“You’d find it silly and I’d rather not share. Since we aren’t friends, nor close at all.”

“No worries, I get it.” Vinnie said with a smile. “I joined to change something myself.” He chuckled a little before leaning back against his seat as he happily started to eat his food. At least, Balthazar was sure that was food, he couldn’t be sure, it was almost as if he had just created something new entirely.

“Also, I should bring up that we should get our first assignments tomorrow. First day together is to learn about each other as a means to better work together.” Vinnie said with a big grin on his face.

Balthazar figured that made sense to him. Can’t work with partners if you were constantly at each other’s throats and couldn’t get along in the end. Though he just hoped that it would benefit him in the end. So many questions, and so many answers that he felt like he wouldn’t be able to get the answers for. He just hoped though… that he would find everything that he would find. Just unsure if he would even be able to find her. Though maybe he’d find her while on some kind of mission to say the least.

At least, he hoped he would.


	2. Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vinnie goes through the motions of his day only to get the surprise of his life.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Slowly the amber and blue coloured eyes open from the sound of the alarm blaring in his ears. Letting out a soft sigh, he looked over at his alarm as it kept screaming at him. Sighing softly, the young man reached over and shut the alarm off. He was hoping that he would be able to just sleep in a little longer though sadly, he had to show up early this morning to get a briefing on his new partner.

_’My third partner since joining…’_ He thought to himself before slamming his hand on the alarm once again. Silencing it before he rolled out of bed. Half dragging himself toward the bathroom while fighting off the yawn that was trying to come out of him. Once he got in his bathroom, he couldn’t help but stare at his reflection.

Blinking slowly, his eyes had dark circles under them, almost making his olive coloured skin look paler than usual. It was another sleepless night that much he knew. It was just another dream, one that he’d have now and again since he was a teenager. Really, he didn’t want to think about that dream again. It was something that would still happen whenever he thought about a friend, a friend that he was sure that he’d never see again.

Taking a deep breath, the young man splashed water on his face, hoping to wake himself up a little. No matter what may come his way, he knew that he had to keep going to work. He was making a difference, not just for himself anymore that was for sure. Lifting his gaze to the mirror once again, the young man saw that he looked a little more alert now, so that was a good thing.

Grabbing his brush, he started to brush through the thick brown curls till it stuck up like it normally did in a kind of afro style. Blinking his eyes once again, he turned his head from side to side, making sure that he wouldn’t need to do anything else, so far nothing else seemed to be out of place for him.

Nodding to himself, the young man made his way over to the kitchen and decided to make some pancakes. One of the few things that he knew how to prepare for himself. Humming a soft tune to himself, the young man wondered who this new partner was going to be. Hoping that they weren’t like the last one, one with a stick so far up their ass that he wanted to beat or strangle them till someone pulled his hands away.

_’Stupid asshole…’_ thought the man.

After their first mission, his partner decided he wanted nothing to do with him. He can still recall those words as they echoed through his mind.

_”You are the worst kind of person in the world. A disgusting human being who thinks they can be whatever they want. Well you’re fucking wrong, get the fuck away from me. I’m talking to the boss to get a new partner so I can get as far away from you as possible!”_

He couldn’t help but rub his face as he was trying to take a deep breath. Hoping to calm himself down, unsure if he would even get a decent person as his partner this time around. Even though he hadn’t been an agent for, well a very long time but had been from the last five years he had spent as an agent, he had spent most of that time as a desk jockey because no one wanted to be his partner.

When a partner was finally decided for him well, yeah they decided to leave him because he was ‘supposedly living a lie’. No, he knew that there was no lie in how he lived. As for the first one well… he didn’t want to remember.

Shaking his head, the young man placed his hands on the counter of his kitchen, keeping his focus on the pancakes as they cooked as he mumbled to himself. “Don’t let it get to you Vinnie. You know that you aren’t living a lie anymore. You were as a child, knowing that you were different now you are who you were meant to be.” Taking a deep breath, closing his eyes while trying to calm himself down.

Setting his pancakes on the plate, he poured a hell of a lot of syrup on his food before taking a seat and started to dig in. Not caring if he made a mess on himself yet. Knowing that he could easily just clean himself up afterwards.

Once he was done eating, Vinnie made his way to his bedroom once again and changed into his usual attire. White undershirt, black leather jacket, green cargo pants and black boots. Looking onto his nightstand, he picked up his orange tinted sunglasses. It wasn’t something that he liked wearing, but he had a bit of a light sensitivity issue. It’s not bad when he’s inside, or when he’s outside on a cloudy day, but best to be prepared.

Picking them up he was about to slip them on till he saw the chain on the table. Frowning, the young man carefully picked up the chain and held it in his hand. A feeling of painful nostalgia washed through him in that moment, his thumb rubbed against the chain. He hadn’t worn it yesterday after he had gone out. Learning that his partner had finally gotten through to their boss to get a switch in partnership, he had decided to treat himself to some of the best burritos in the century.

By stealing a time car for his own personal use and getting some food. Not knowing that he had actually stolen a car of someone taking a test, had thought that they had finished the test in the long run.

Only afterwards, did he notice that he had forgotten to put the chain on himself that day. Made him feel bad, as it was something that he had promised to never forget to keep on, but had forgotten to put it back on when he took a shower that morning. Taking a deep breath, Vinnie slid the chain on before putting his sunglasses on afterwards.

Looking down at the chain one last time, Vinnie held onto it as he whispered “I kept our promise, not just for me but for you as well.” Letting out a shuddering breath, the young man made his way out of his apartment

* * *

Vinnie managed to arrive to the BOTT, having picked up a cup of coffee on the way. As he looked around the hallway, noticing how everyone would either just look at him with disgust, or those who would see him would just give a friendly wave. People were accepting of him for the most part, but the odd time there were those who had been here longer that had known the truth well, they weren’t really all that accepting.

Yet haven’t tried to hurt him physically. Verbally though was a different story all together. But, ah well that was something that he couldn’t really fight back. Taking a deep breath, the young man just decided that there was no point in trying to change the views of those that couldn’t accept that times had changed in the last hundred years with social standings and the like.

Once he made it to the boss’ office, Vinnie had tossed out the paper cup of coffee and made his way inside. Standing behind the desk was the boss of the BOTT. He had thick curly black hair and icy blue eyes. Made Vinnie shudder in worry at the iciness of the stare. Though knew that was something that he couldn’t really help with. Breathing deeply, the young man calmly said “Sup Block, hadn’t decided to get that tan after all huh? It would make that pasty white skin look so much better.”

Block just glared at the curly brown haired man. Yup, they couldn’t stand each other, and they knew that. Block, because he knew the truth about Vinnie and would try to use it against the man more times than not just to irritate him. Not caring that it was against some policies, but Vinnie had a way to get back at his boss. He even smiled internally at the idea.

“Just shut up and sit down Vincenza.” Block said with a smirk on his face. Knowing that it was hitting a nerve.

“You know I changed my name, its Vincent or Vinnie. Don’t use my dead name.” Vinnie all but snarled before sitting down on the comfy arm chair that was in the office.

“Don’t care.” Block said with a glare, yet the shit eating grin remained on his face. He knew that Vinnie wouldn’t report it out of fear of some kind of retaliation. There was bound to be some kind of loophole that could be used against him. That was something that he couldn’t risk. “Now, as you know you’ve been without a partner for a short while now.”

“Yes, I know that. Thanks for pointing that out to me Captain Obvious.” Vinnie responded blandly.

Block rolled his eyes before looking over his paperwork. “Now, he is a new recruit, having just barely passed his exam. Written exam though was perfect, the actual test to use a time machine was just barely at the line of passing.” Vinnie couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at this one. Why was Block even bringing up the guy’s exam in the first place? It wasn’t like it would matter to the olive skinned man in the first place.

“Your point Block? What does it even matter in the first place?” asked Vinnie with a frown on his face, leaning back against his seat before crossing his arms.

“My point, is that you will need to try to keep your partner around this time. Last one hated you-“

“Because he’s a transphobe like you.” Vinnie said with a glare.

Yeah, okay he was born female and had thought he was stuck being in a body that he didn’t want to be. But once he started to realize that he was a male in mind rather than female well, he at least didn’t have to worry about much else. He didn’t develop breasts but he was for the most part stuck with everything else but had accepted it for the most part. Money was tight for him, so he had just come to terms with it.

Even though his boss was a transphobe to the point that he would keep using his dead name. Since he hadn’t legally changed his name when he had joined so he had no choice but to use that name when he applied. Once he was able to legally change it, he kept using his new legal name and well, Block kept calling him by his dead name to his face, so no one would know the truth.

“I was talking about your first partner.” Block glared.

“What?” Vinnie blinked, now a little confused on that one.

“Remember? He died on your second mission with him?”

Oh… right…

Yeah during their second mission together as partners, well it ended with his partner dying during the mission. And he himself had barely been able to finish the mission at all. That was what caused the spiral down to his own destruction to say the least. At least when it comes to getting partners afterwards. Even though this will be his third partner, there was no telling what he was going to encounter with his partner, but he just hoped that it would be someone that was accepting to say the least.

“Fine, I’ll keep him alive to the best of my abilities.” The curly haired man said with a sigh before sinking in his seat. It was something that he had always felt bad about during all those years. Something that made him stay up at night for a month straight during that point in time. Though he had come to terms with it for the most part to say the least.

Taking a deep breath, Vinnie calmly repeated “I’ll do what I can to keep him alive, but I can’t make promises. I’ll at least try to keep him alive longer than two missions.”

“Don’t get smart with me you fuck.” Block said with a glare.

“What me? Smart? You know that’s impossible. I’m just a ‘dumb’ woman to you aren’t I? Oh wait, no that’s what you want to still see me as. When I’ve mentioned time and time again that I’m a man.” Vinnie said with a glare.

Both men just stared down the other. As if trying to show who’s will was stronger, to prove who was stronger in the will of the other but knew that he wasn’t going to allow this prick to get away with how he would always get away with how his boss treated him. Soon, a knock echoed out and caused both men to turn to the door.

“That must be your partner.” Block said with a nod of his head.

“Come in.” came Block’s voice. Causing Vinnie to look up and sigh softly. This was going to be a long interaction for sure. Unsure if this would even work out, honestly he just wanted to go home and relax. Knowing the norm when it comes to meeting new partners. Having to spend the first day to get to know each other before they could actually go on a mission.

Though really, he just hoped that this guy was at least easy to get along with. That was the only thing that he wanted from this, was someone that he could see as a friend. As it had been a very long time since he had someone that he could call a ‘friend’.

“Cavendish-“

Cavendish? But… that was the last name of…

“Vinnie Dakota.”

Blinking his eyes a couple times, Vinnie managed to push himself up onto his feet and turned around. Only to stare nearly bugged eyed as he stared at the tall honey blonde haired man with the turquoise eyes as he stared at the man. Unsure as to how to act… though it had seemed that the man could react quicker than Vinnie.

“It’s you!”

“Oh boy…” He couldn’t help but rub the back of his head. Something that he had never grown out of when he was little. Always running his hand through his hair when it was long. Now that it was short, he could barely do that anymore, more so with his curls being so thick now compared to when he was little.

“You two know each other?” asked Block.

“Here it comes.” Vinnie winced a little, thinking that this man was going reveal to their boss of his little exploit of using the time vehicle. His eyes soon tightly shut, fearing the worse and that the threat he had promised would come about. There was no way that he would be able to keep that promise. He would be forced out and he would have failed his friend in the long run.

“I’ll tell you what I know of this man. When someone is in danger… he is a good man to have around.”

Vinnie slowly opened his eyes as he stared at the blonde with wide eyed shock. Did he really just… defend him? Say that he was a good man to have around? There was no way that this was happening? Was this some kind of dream or something? Honestly, the curly haired man wanted to pinch himself in some way to see if he was somehow still in his bed dreaming this all happening right now.

“Balthazar Cavendish. Pleased to make your acquaintance sir.” The blonde said, holding out his hand for Vinnie to shake.

Yet, Vinnie couldn’t help but look down at the hand in shock. Before his gaze would look back up at the blonde, trying to process everything that was happening right now. It had felt like time itself had slowed down around him as he just stared at the blonde. His heart was hammering in his chest, thinking that he was seeing someone that he shouldn’t be seeing at all.

_’Is this really… Balthazar? But… that can’t be possible. He… he died didn’t he? The paper…’_ Vinnie was thinking to himself. Recalling that day once again. Remembering how he saw in the paper of his family being in a crash, saying that there were no survivors. That Balthazar was in the car with his parents, the car fucking _exploded_ for fucks sake!

Honestly, Vinnie could almost feel the tears building up in his eyes in that moment. Thinking that this had to be some kind of dream. That this couldn’t be his friend, alive and well for that matter. Yet, there was so many things that matched the appearance of his childhood friend.

The honey blonde hair that he ruffled a lot when they were children.

The turquoise coloured eyes that made him think of the sea when waves would crash about on the rocks filled with moss.

The fact that he was now taller than Vinnie himself was just strange though since it used to be the other way around. Though then again, from what he could recall of his parents, they were both tall so it made sense that Balthazar himself would be tall.

Soon, he felt the world coming back to him as he blinked his eyes and looked up at Balthazar. Smiling widely before grabbing a hold of the man’s hand. “Hey, and thanks.” He said, hoping that maybe Balthazar knew who he was. Even though the name was different, there had to be a means of him knowing the nickname and the fact that not much else had changed about him besides the fact that he had shorter hair and went by a different name.

Before Balthazar could say anything else, he grinned more and wrapped an arm around the blonde’s shoulders. Telling him that they should get something to eat and that it’d be on him. Honestly, Vinnie wanted to ask a few things, to ask him why it had taken him so long to come here, if he remembered Vinnie at all to say the least.

Though it seemed as that wasn’t meant to happen.

For when Vinnie had asked him what made him want to be a time agent? Well, the answer wasn’t what he had hoped for. That it wasn’t his business, that they weren’t friends… or even close. Vinnie wanted to cry in some way, wanted to shed tears to show that he was truly upset about all of this though, once again it seemed that it wasn’t meant to be.

A friend of his childhood, coming back to him in the form of their childhood promise…

Only for Balthazar to not know who he was. To even try to know who he is as a person it seemed that he had changed in some way. Maybe, he wasn’t the same boy he knew all those years ago. Which only seemed to hurt him all the more and that was a pain far worse than when his own mother rejected him when he came out as Trans.

This pain, was far worse than anything that he had ever experienced before in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna point out, I've never written for a trans character before, I'm going by information that I've seen in some TV shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and I'm Jazz, or even other fanfics that had a trans character, I'm at least trying to, I did work with two trans guys at my last job, had no problem with the one, the other I felt like was an ass because he called me a weeb, I'm not a weeb I'm an Otaku, huge difference I find. Anyway, I'm trying so if I make a mistake in my information, PLEASE let me know and I'll fix it because I at least wanna make sure that my facts are, well, fact. Anyway, I hope you all have a happy new year, I'm posting this maybe just a little over 30 minutes before midnight of January 1st before the second lol


	3. Blood and Panic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vinnie is unsure as to what is going on with Balthazar's memories. Though when a mission goes wrong, Vinnie does one rule that no one is allowed to break.

It had been a couple days since they first became partners. Vinnie couldn’t help but feel worry and concern that Balthazar showed no sign of knowing who the shorter man was. It just seemed as if there was something more than this. Something that he just couldn’t understand but, wanted to. He wanted to try to understand what was going on with the man’s head. Was there something that happened since they were children to now?

He didn’t know, but knew that he had to do something. Had to learn what was going on in Balthazar’s life, or even what had been going on in his head for that matter. Taking a deep breath, the young man just wanted to learn what he was to do, his mind was heavy with many thoughts that bothered him about all of this.

Of course, Vinnie owed his job title to Balthazar. It was the promise that they both made to each other when they were kids and now they were. Balthazar remembered the promise, he had to have remembered. Why else would he have become a time agent in the first place? It just didn’t make sense to him, unless Balthazar had actually forgotten the promise, and joined for a different purpose.

Unsure as to what it could have been, though hoped and prayed that he would learn as to what it was that had happened.

Taking a deep breath, hoping to get his thoughts onto something else, anything else really. What would work to get his thoughts in order for this mission? Whatever he could do to get his thoughts in order would be great right about now. Taking a deep breath, the young man looked over at the gate, wondering if Balthazar was even on his way yet. Normally he was the one that was late, so it was strange for the situation to be the other way around.

Leaning against the building, arms crossed while staring at the ground. There had to be something that had kept Balthazar right?

Sighing softly, the young man wanted answers but was unsure as to how to get them. It just seemed that there were things that would get in his way, somehow. Shaking his head, the young man removed his glasses as he rubbed at his eyes. Hoping to get himself to relax, if he was stressed before the mission then he would mess it up somehow.

“Ah, Dakota there you are.” Came a voice, causing Vinnie to lift his head as he looked over and saw Balthazar walking out of the gate. “I was looking for you, I was given our mission.” Balthazar calmly said, looking over at his phone, going over all of the schematics for their mission. The curly haired man couldn’t help but frown a little in confusion at that one. Had he also been sent the mission or had he accidently missed it/deleted it? Honestly, the shorter man was unsure as to what had happened. “Do you not have a copy of the mission?” asked Balthazar.

“I must have skipped it. Rough night.” If only that was true, well it was just not entirely. He did have a rough night, but that was due to his mind being filled with too many ideas as to what could have caused Balthazar not to show any sign of knowing who Vinnie was. For now, he couldn’t say anything, Balthazar would most likely just think he was crazy.

“How irresponsible.” Balthazar said with a roll of his eyes before walking toward the car.

Vinnie bristled a little at that, glaring at the blonde before taking a deep breath. No, he couldn’t get mad at Balthazar, he was still new to this whole thing. It was just a simple mistake that was all it was. Taking a deep breath, he calmly said “Fine, I’ll drive and you tell me where and when we need to go alright?” He got into the car, looking over at the tall man before he himself walked into the car.

The car itself was simple enough. Had nice plush seating, comfortable for sure and that made Vinnie smile to say the least. The outside almost resembled a volks wagon beetle. The control panel just mostly had a dial with month, day, and year. Location wise, it had to be typed in at the bottom of the panel before they would hit the button to send them through time.

“So what’s the mission?” asked Vinnie while getting the car started.

“It seems that one of the higher class agents had left behind a ray gun. It can change from a laser gun, freeze ray, heat, ect. The agent it seems didn’t want to go back to retrieve it so it’s up to us to get it.” Balthazar mumbled the last part in disdain, before going on with the where they have to go as well as the when. It seemed that the two of them had the same world view when it comes to the higher class of agents. Always looking down on the lower class to the point that they had to go and do this kind of missions that they deem both important, but unimportant.

“Lazy fucks is what they are.” Vinnie mumbled to himself, not noticing that Balthazar was staring at him with wide eyes.

“You actually curse?” asked Balthazar.

“Huh?” Vinnie blinked after putting in the time coordinates. Blinking a couple more times, before finally saying “Yeah I do that sometimes.”

“Well it doesn’t seem very gentlemanly.” Balthazar pointed out.

“Well, I’m not really a gentleman to be honest Cavendish. Just a simple man who happens to have the odd foul mouth.” Vinnie said with a smirk before hitting the button that shot them through time. Balthazar though just stared at him in confusion before looking on ahead. The tunnel of purple and green filled with floating clocks passing by them.

“I didn’t pay attention to the first time I traveled through time…” Balthazar whispered in shocked awe.

Vinnie looked over at his partner for a moment. Unable to control the way his heart skipped a beat seeing the childlike wonder that crossed the taller man’s face. He didn’t know why that caused a reaction out of the shorter man but he knew that right now, there was a mission to accomplish.

Yet, he couldn’t help but give a small smile seeing the look on his partner’s face. It was cute, adorable even. Though he just hoped that they would get along better further down the road. Maybe even learn as to if Balthazar even remembered him or there was something more to it. There had to be something that he was missing, what it was he just wasn’t sure what it was.

Looking on ahead, he saw that they were soon reaching the end of their journey through time. Once the blue swirling portal opened, the car emerged in the past, near what could be best described as a mining sight.

Vinnie couldn’t help but frown a little in confusion. It seemed weird to leave a weapon from the future but then again neither of the two men knew what the mission was. Well, not entirely, as the agent’s mission was never revealed to the two of them. There could have been some weird reason for why they ended up in this place. Shrugging his shoulders, the young man undid his seatbelt as he looked over at Balthazar who was also pulling out the device as he looked around at their surrounding area.

“Interesting area, don’t you think so Dakota?” asked Balthazar.

“Yeah, I think we’re near a mining town or something.” Vinnie replied as he looked around. Unsure as to where everything was. Where was the equipment? The helmets? Drills? Hammers? Anything at all? He was unsure as to where everything was. Strange that there was nothing in their field view though maybe there was something more to this place than what meets the eye?

“According to this, the weapon isn’t far.” Balthazar calmly said, looking over the small computer in his hand that was giving him all the information of their mission. Right now, it was best that Balthazar held the mission specs while he drove so there was no risk of anything happening. Though Vinnie knew that he’d have to teach his partner how to use the time vehicle properly at some point.

“Alright, let’s just go in, grab it and leave. This place is kinda giving me the creeps.” Vinnie calmly said, though had a frown on his face as he looked around the area once again. Trying to find a reason to just leave already, though knew that right now wasn’t the time to panic. Taking a deep breath, he looked over at his partner as he asked “So where is it?”

“In this cave actually.” Balthazar pointed out before looking over at the cave that was ahead. Honestly? It looked more like a mine than just a cave. But must have been hallowed out if there was no tools around. Tilting his head a little, the young man looked up at his partner as he tried to think on what the plan would be. This just seemed too easy for a mission to a couple of third class agents.

“You sure?” asked Vinnie with uncertainty.

“Positive.” Balthazar responded before walking on ahead.

Vinnie just sighed softly before rubbing the back of his neck. This felt like an oncoming headache for him but oh well. Once the mission was done, he’ll go home and have a nice snack or something. Anything to get his mind off of his partner right now. He just wanted to get away from Balthazar, and maybe see if he could take a look at the news clipping to get an idea as to what had happened. But would it be enough to give him an idea as to what had happened? Such as reading this all wrong? Or was it something more? He wasn’t sure, though he just hoped that maybe he had just read it wrong all those years ago.

“So, Cavendish think we should put on helmets or something?” suggested Vinnie.

“Where, do you say we even get helmets Dakota? In case you haven’t noticed there was no sign of them here.” Balthazar pointed out with a roll of his eyes. Vinnie couldn’t help but frown a little as he stared at his partner’s back as he walked into the mining cave. The way Balthazar just seems to show no regard for safety irritated him, though knew that he would have to keep an eye on him.

Looking around the mining cave once he entered. Just like the outside, there were no tools, helmets… nothing. Maybe this place was abandoned? Looking around he saw a few tunnels were lining the walls, though no lights. “Hey Cavendish, do you think this place is abandoned?” asked Vinnie.

“Quite possibly. According to the Quantum Localizer, this mine was shut down maybe a few months ago?” Balthazar responded with a frown on his face before shaking his head and putting it away. “It’ll locate us to the gun, then we can go back and finish the report.” He calmly said with a shake of his head. “Anyway, there shouldn’t be any problem with this mission. It’s far too simple for my talents.”

Vinnie gave a bland stare at the last bit. Though he couldn’t help but chuckle a little. Honestly, Balthazar was adorable, much like when they were children. Giving his childhood friend a soft gaze, he couldn’t help but wonder what had happened from the moment they separated from camp. What had happened? What caused this… whatever this is? Did he really forget? Or was it something so much… no, he shouldn’t be thinking about this in the first place. There was bigger things to worry about and that involved getting the gun and heading back home to eat his troubles away.

“It’s this way.” Balthazar calmly said, causing Vinnie to blink his eyes before looking up. Seeing the honey blonde haired man pointing to the tunnel on the left. Vinnie just shrugged before following his partner. The tunnel didn’t seem long, though he wasn’t sure if they would be able to really see the gun in the first place if they can’t even get far.

“Got a light Cavendish?” asked Vinnie while he was checking his pockets. Hoping to find a flashlight or something that would shed some kind of light on the area. Though looks like he forgot his phone in the car, well that’s great.

“You don’t come prepared at all did you Dakota?” Balthazar blandly replied.

“Forgot my phone in the car. Sue me why don’tcha.” Dakota glared a little at that one, but knew that he couldn’t allow himself to get too worked up. After all, if he got too worked up he could end up shouting at the man before him and didn’t want to cause a scene. More so when in a mine of all things. There was no telling what could happen should there be a loud noise in the mine or even the tunnels themselves.

Soon, Balthazar stopped in his tracks, causing the curly haired man to stop as well. Blinking, Vinnie asked “Sup Cavendish? See something?” asked Vinnie.

“Look Dakota.” Balthazar pointed out.

Looking around him, Vinnie blinked his bi-coloured eyes and saw the gun. “That seemed pretty easy.” The shorter man smiled as he added “So, let’s grab the gun and head out.”

“Indeed.” The blonde calmly said before he started to make his way forward. Grabbing the gun, and he couldn’t but cheer happily. Vinnie’s eyes widened for a moment, and looked around trying to see any sign of falling rocks.

Nothing.

Maybe they lucked out on this part here.

“Let us return shall we Dakota?” Balthazar said with a smile on his face.

Vinnie felt his heart skip a beat seeing that smile. Trying to fight the blush from surfacing, Vinnie just nodded his head before looking away. “Sure, then maybe we can get some snacks.”

“What is it with you and snacks?”

Vinnie couldn’t help but chuckle a little, only to grunt a little as he felt something hit his head. Frowning, he reached up and rubbed at his head, only to blink. “Huh?” He pulled something out of his fluff of curls and held it in front of his eyes. It was a small rock. “What the?” Then he let out a grunt as something else had hit his head. “Ow. Come on!” Hissed the shorter man before he looked up and saw more rocks falling from the ceiling.

His eyes widened, thoughts falling to _’Oh shit!’_ before he looked over at Balthazar saying “We need to go! Now!” The blonde just blinked his eyes before nodding. With that, the two started to make a run for the exit.

Vinnie knew that Balthazar had managed to grab the gun before making a break for it. He was sure of it, though even if that wasn’t the case, with the way the tunnel was starting to fall, there was no way of knowing what was to happen. But at least there was a way to get back to the future if they couldn’t use the car. Assuming that that blonde hadn’t dropped any of their equipment.

Breathing deeply, the young man knew that the rocks falling was getting bigger and bigger. Though he just wasn’t sure if they should have come in the way they did. Should they have managed to get helmets or some other form of protection to ensure their safety? Maybe. Though he just hoped that maybe they would think about that further down the line of their partnership.

Gritting his teeth, Vinnie pushed himself harder and harder to get out of the tunnels. Just to get to the exit sooner so he and his partner could get out of here.

Though then a sound reached his ears. It sounded like a thump of some kind, then a loud thud hitting the ground. Skipping to a stop, Vinnie turned himself around to see if Balthazar was alright.

Only to find that the man was lying on the ground, and unmoving. Vinnie cursed under his breath and looked around. Seeing that there was no way to lift Balthazar quickly, he did the only thing that he could think of doing. Acting as quickly as he could, the young man threw himself atop of Balthazar, using his own body to shield his partner from any further damage, as well as covering his head from any further rocks that would try to injure him.

As the rocks fell though, he couldn’t help but wince and curse in pain. Some of the rocks would hit him in the back, either the sides or his spine. His teeth gritting as he tried to keep himself from crying out, or making any loud noise that would only cause more rocks to fall onto them. Vinnie briefly opened his eyes for a moment to stare at Balthazar, the man hadn’t made a single sound this whole time, unsure as to why it was. Maybe the rock had caused Balthazar to pass out.

“Just hold on Cavendish, everything will be okay.” Vinnie promised, hoping and praying that they would both get out of this alive and in one piece.

Nothing came from his partner. Though at the moment he wasn’t going to complain. Tightly shutting his eyes, the young man tried to bare the pain. Trying to endure, feeling like this was never going to end. Yet, with the thought of the rocks falling to be never ending, they slowly started to slow down till finally stopping.

Counting to himself, Vinnie wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t have a rock hit him in the head. Yet, when he couldn’t feel anything else trying to hit him, the young man slowly started to open his eyes before uncurling himself from Balthazar. “Okay, I think we’re safe now.” He whispered softly before pushing himself up and away from the blonde. “Come on Cavendish, time to get up.”

No responds.

“Huh?” Vinnie frowned a little before crouching down next to his partner and wanted to check to ensure that the man was okay. That he wasn’t seriously hurt, or at least in a worse state than what appeared to be so. Reaching out, he gently shook the man’s shoulder, hoping to get a responds from him. “Hey, Cavendish wake up. Please?”

Once again, there was no answer. Yet, that seemed to only make the shorter man all the more worried. Gulping, Vinnie checked the man over. Wanting to make sure that his friend was safe, to ensure that everything was okay. Though the one thing that made him freeze in his place, was the blood that had surrounded Balthazar.

Time seemed to have slowed down for him. Eyes widened as he stared at the body of Balthazar surrounded by blood. There was a wound on his head, which was where the blood was coming from. So much blood… why was there so much blood? Shakily, he reached out and grabbed a hold of the man’s wrist. Wanting to check for a pulse, anything that would give him any indication of the man being alive.

Nothing.

His breathing stopped, almost swore that his heart had stopped beating while time itself froze. Eyes widening to the size of dinner plates as he stared at his childhood friend. So many thoughts and feelings swirled within his mind, as well as his heart in that moment. How he had failed his friend. How he failed to keep him alive when all this time he had thought the man to have been dead in the first place. Panic swept through him in that moment as he was trying to think on what he was to do.

This can’t be how it ends.

It can’t be how it ends for Balthazar.

To die on his first mission is an insult to him and it was one that would only make him a laughing stock of the world at this point. To be the one man to die on his first mission, and it only made Vinnie feel even more tremendous guilt swim through him.

What was he to do? What should he do? Tears started to pool down his cheeks till he felt his body seeming to move on its own. Running as quickly as he could to get out of the cave and toward the time vehicle. Unsure as to what it was that he was doing. Unaware of him punching in a new time, unaware of a location… of anything.

All he saw was the time stream and all of the floating clocks before finding himself still in the same area, just in a different location from where the car was originally.

Looking around wildly, Vinnie saw that he was just a few feet away. Hidden by the bushes and trees that lined the cave. Quickly getting out of the car, he grabbed his phone and shoved it in his pocket before taking a quick look around. He found some helmets and nodded to himself before making his way to the entrance of the mine.

It didn’t take him long, his heart was pounding quickly in his chest. Unsure as to how he even came up with this idea in the first place. This was against the rules, it was forbidden. Yet, this was the only way to ensure Balthazar’s life, he knew this… even if it meant going against the rules.

Soon, the car showed up and his past self, along with Balthazar came out of the car and looked around. Vinnie of course, took this chance when it arrived. Sneaking up to his past self, he grabbed a hold of him and pulled him into the bushes. His past self yelped out in shock, about to scream till Vinnie covered his mouth to keep him from making any loud noise. “Stay quiet, I’m from the future, not far though.” He whispered softly, taking a deep breath before adding “I’ll explain later. For now, just stay here and stay out of sight understand?” Seeing his past self nod, Vinnie pushed himself out of the bushes.

“Hey Cavendish, what should we do here?” asked Vinnie, knowing where they were going to go. He just hoped that his plan would work in order to protect his partner. Balthazar looked up and frowned at him a little. Why was he frowning like that? “Something wrong?” asked Vinnie.

“Your jacket and hands… they’re stained in red. Actually so are your pant legs.” Oh shit.

Vinnie looked down at himself and saw that he had indeed been stained by some blood when he shielded Balthazar… err… the future Balthazar? He wasn’t sure how this worked, but knew that he had to come up with a reason for this and quickly! Looking around for a moment, the young man knew that he had to say something or else he would end up giving away that he was from a few minutes in the future.

Oh! “Well you see, I went looking for something for us to use and fell. I hurt myself a bit and tried to wipe the blood off on my jacket and pants but guess it wasn’t enough huh.” Vinnie said with a grin on his face.

“That is a lot of blood though…”

“It wasn’t just my hands I hurt. It was my knees to, pants got a little stained so it’s hard to see the rips.” Vinnie responded with a big smile on his face. Balthazar frowned a little more at that one, but seemed to have accepted the answer. That was at least a good thing, he was still a little naïve for sure though he wasn’t going to complain about that. “Now, where to good buddy?”

“We’re not ‘buddies’ Dakota. We are going inside the mine here to get the gun, and then we’re going back to our own time.” Balthazar calmly explained before putting his device back in his pocket.

“Okay, cool.” Responded the shorter man before pulling out the helmets that he had behind him. “I found some helmets by the way.”

“Where did you get these?”

“I grabbed some from over there. You must have been distracted by the whole thing.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, put them on.” Vinnie responded, putting a helmet on his own head before handing Balthazar his own. Though the blonde hadn’t taken it. “What’s wrong?” asked Vinnie with a frown.

“I don’t need a helmet. There is no reason to wear such a useless thing.” Vinnie froze for a moment, his eyes widening and damn he almost felt his pupils shrinking in panic and fear. The image of Balthazar laying on the ground, surrounded by a puddle of his own blood caused Dakota too nearly panic. His heart was beating quickly, as was his breathing. It had almost felt like the world around him had gone dark in that moment.

There was nothing but him, and the mental images of Balthazar dead on the ground. Him trying to shield his partner from death… only for him to have been too late to do so.

“Dakota? Dakota are you okay? Dakota?!”

Blinking his eyes a couple times, Dakota slowly looked up, trying to get his breathing under control though it seemed that he still was unseeing of who was calling out to him. “Breathe Dakota, just keep breathing. Focus on breathing, my voice and touch.” Then Vinnie felt something grabbing a hold of his hands. As if trying to draw him back to reality.

Taking a few deep breaths, Vinnie blinked his eyes as if trying force himself to focus on everything that was going on around him. He could still hear the sound of someone’s voice trying to reach out to him and calm him down. Soon, he found himself back at the mine, still holding the helmet and couldn’t help but look up and saw the concerned gaze of Balthazar looking down at him.

Even though his breathing was back to normal, his heartbeat was still beating as he gazed at Balthazar. That look, it was the same one that the blonde used to give Vinnie when they were children. It was when Vinnie himself would cry when some of the other kids would bully him because he was different. When normally it was the other way around… Vinnie had taken it till he would break and Balthazar would comfort him. Was… was his friend still in there somehow? Still remembered him even a little?

“Are you okay? You were having a panic attack.” Balthazar asked with a frown on his face before removing his hand from the shorter man before him.

“Yeah… just… just please put on the helmet. It’s better to be safe than sorry.” The curly haired man responded, hoping that would be enough to get Balthazar to listen to him.

Frowning, the blonde accepted the helmet and slid it on his head. Hoping that would be enough to cheer up Vinnie before heading on inside the mine. Vinnie took a deep breath and looked over at the bushes. His past self came out and asked “What happened?”

“He died. I stopped it, though… I should have disappeared.” Vinnie whispered before frowning a little in confusion. Shaking his head, he added “Go grab your phone, find a place to hide from Block. He’d find a way to get rid of us for what I did.”

His past self nodded his head before going back to their car, taking his phone only to look over at the mine. “He… he’ll be okay right?”

“I don’t really know. But I’m hoping the helmet will protect him this time around. He had a nasty hit to the head which killed him. Trust me… you never wanted to see that.” Vinnie whispered.

“But how did you come up with going back in time to change it?” asked his past self.

“I don’t really know. I just reacted, I guess part of me wants to learn more about Balthazar. I want to know who he is, what happened to him and I guess… because I’m doing what Block told me to do. To make sure that my partner stays alive this time and I plan to do just that.” Vinnie took a deep breath, hoping to calm himself. His emotions were running on thin ice at this point, trying his hardest not to break down.

Knowing that if he broke down that it would worry Balthazar again, or worse get back to Block and he’ll figure out what Vinnie had done. Taking a deep breath, he looked over and saw his past self about to leave in the time car he originally came from. “No, take the one behind the mine. That way, Balthazar won’t get confused about why the one he came in disappeared.”

“Right, make sure he’s well then I guess.” His past self said with a frown before running to the other car. Though he had stopped for a moment and looked back at the mine. His eyes had concern for the blonde man in the mine before he started to make his way into the woods behind the mine. Vinnie sighed softly, looking back at the mine himself before smiling a little. At least… Balthazar was alive, that was all that mattered.

Though he just hoped that he wouldn’t get in too much trouble for this, should it ever come up. Though he doubted that it would come up in the first place. They would have to be looking for the trouble in the first place, and only by a whim less they see or detected another Vinnie with the original. Taking a deep breath, he made his way into the mine to ensure Balthazar’s safety. Nothing else mattered more than his partner’s safety and to ensure that he stayed alive.

After all, how many times could this happen right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> originally I was going to make this chapter a oneshot but meh, figured it'd be nice to do it in the story.


	4. Nightmares and a Scar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleep deprived from a nightmare, Vinnie decides to have a nap after a mission. Though it seems that his mind wanted him to go through an emotional roller-coaster and Balthazar revealed something to Vinnie giving him an idea as to the cause of his memories.

_Vinnie couldn’t help but look around the cave that he found himself in. It was odd that he was in another cave, unsure as to why he was even here. Maybe he was on a mission? Unsure as to what the mission was, though maybe Balthazar would know. Oh! Maybe it was another retrieval mission? Something that made the upper class agents look more down upon them though, for the time being it wasn’t really something that he could fight._

_Could bitch and moan about it though so that made things easier for him to deal with it._

_Looking around, moving the flashlight to shine his way through the dark tunnel, he couldn’t help but wonder just how far he had traveled through the cave. So many tunnels, so many places to try to visit though he was unsure as to where he was even going. Actually now that he thought about it…_

_Turning his gaze left and right, Vinnie couldn’t help but frown as he rubbed at the back of his head. “Where is Cavendish anyway?” He asked, unsure as to where he was going by now. It almost appeared that he was just going around in circles now. Unaware of where he was going, or where his partner was. This was just starting to get him a little worried as to where his partner was now._

_It was as if some weird force of nature was keeping him from moving where he was._

_Odd feeling that it was, that was for sure. Though Balthazar was a smart guy in the first place, he would make sure that he would get the mission completed. Then he would find him after finding whatever it was that they were looking for. So, afterwards they would both get out of this cave that would be for sure though he just hoped that they would get out of here soon._

_This cave was giving him the creeps._

_It was giving him the chills at this point, making him think that he had been here before and that was making him all the more nervous. The feelings kept growing stronger to the point that he was starting to feel a chill going up his spine in that moment. Taking a deep breath, hoping to calm himself down, Vinnie looked around the cave once again, hoping to get a sign that his partner was near him. “Yo, Cavendish! You here?”_

_No answer. Figures, the man was easily distracted when he was focused on a task like this. Even though it had been a long time since they were at camp, Vinnie could still recall the memory like the memory was always renewed in his brain, never allowing the memory to truly fade. Or like some kind of hunter that would hunt for the best kind of meat, just to remember the taste so much that his brain refused to let go, like it was the best thing to eat and still remembering the taste to the point that it was in his dreams. Like when Vinnie recalled the taste of Rita’s burritos._

_“Cavendish? Come on man, I just wanna finish this mission and head on out.” Vinnie called out, hoping that his partner would hear him this time around. Though just like before it was still nothing._

_Groaning, he kept walking forward, pouting the entire time. “Come on man, I just wanna get out of here already. This cave is giving me the creeps here!” Taking another look around, even looking over his shoulder he saw the entrance of the cave still. Only to frown in confusion. He had been walking for a while now so why wasn’t the entrance further away from him? Has he really hadn’t been moving at all?_

_Eyes widening, he looked back ahead. No, this couldn’t be the same cave that their first… No!_

_“Cavendish?!” shouted Vinnie as he ran on ahead. Hoping to find his partner. Fearing for the worse, thinking that it was too late to save him. To prevent what had happened before, from happening again. There is no way that it could happen again right?! It just couldn’t happen again! Tightly shutting his eyes, the young man ran as quickly as he could, hoping to make it through whatever kind of force field was keeping him away from Balthazar._

_“Come on! Fucking let me through damn it all to fucking hell!” shouted Vinnie as he pushed through._

_It seemed that he was able to break through whatever it was that was keeping him from moving forward. He made a sharp turn, slamming himself into the wall for a brief moment before he kept on running. Panicked tears built up within his eyes before he looked on ahead and couldn’t help but smile. “Cavendish!” he shouted._

_The blonde turned his head and looked over at Vinnie in confusion. “Dakota? What’s the matter?” asked the tall man as he tilted his head in confusion._

_Before Vinnie could even speak, something fell from the ceiling of the cave and hit Balthazar in the head. The man fell to the ground within moments. The shorter man couldn’t help but feel like time itself had slowed down in that second. His run slowed down till he had all but stopped dead in his tracks. No, he had gone back in time once to stop this, he knew that! It shouldn’t have happened again! He made sure that Balthazar knew the safety of bringing a helmet with him so he would always be safe from an event like this!_

_Slowly, he walked over to the man, hoping, praying, wishing that he was still alive this time. Wanting to make sure that he was still alive, that nothing was going to hurt his friend this time around, nothing would ever happen to him again. Yet, the closer he got, the stronger the scent of blood became._

_Tears started to build up within his eyes once again, yet they refused to fall… yet._

_Once he reached the still body of his partner, he saw the wound on Balthazar’s head. The way the blood just seemed to ooze out of the injury like it was from a tap in a kitchen or bathroom. Slowly, he reached out to his partner and held onto the taller man’s dead body in his arms. His eyes wide, tears now spilling down his cheeks as he felt his body trembling. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”_

_“You allowed him to die you know.” A voice said, causing Vinnie to slowly open his eyes as he looked up and saw another version of himself. A child him, when he still went by his dead name. She just stared at him with dead emotionless eyes. “You had promised to not just become time travelers, but to keep him safe. Did you forget that promise?” said his younger-self._

_Tightening his grip on Balthazar, the young man buried his face against his partner’s shoulder. His mind wandering to everything… he hadn’t kept the man safe, hadn’t kept him from dying again. His grip tightening to the point that he felt like the taller man was nothing more than a life line to his sanity at this point. Soon, movement in his arms caused him to look down. Looking down, he saw Balthazar looking up at him, eyes blank and void of life. He couldn’t help but stare in shock._

_“You failed me Dakota. You allowed me to die… you can’t keep me safe like you had promised me as children.” Balthazar whispered softly, causing Vinnie to stare in shock. Unsure as to what he was to say, what he could say at the moment. No idea what he was to do._

_“Cavendish I-“_

_“You must pay the price Dakota…” He whispered before his hand shot out and wrapped around the shorter man’s throat and started to strangle him. Vinnie tried to pry the hand from his throat, though was unable to do so. Gasping for breath, the young man looked down as he saw Balthazar’s skin growing paler, skin slowly starting to fall off. It was as if his body was decomposing right in front of him… and it was reaching the shorter man, as if to infect him with some kind of virus._

_Vinnie screamed._

Vinnie woke up screaming, tears streaming down his cheeks as he looked around his bedroom wildly, a hand reaching up to his neck as if still feeling the hand around his windpipe. Seeing that he was in the darkness of his apartment, the young man couldn’t help but curl up in a ball after lowering his hand from his throat. Burying his eyes against his knees as he tried to keep himself calm. Yet his breathing was quick, rapid and almost seemed like the air wouldn’t stay in his lungs where they needed to stay in the first place. It just seemed that no matter what he did, nothing would allow him to catch his breath.

That nightmare… it had felt so real for him. He knew that it was a nightmare. There was no way that Balthazar would hurt him, even if he did mess up in some way, there was just no way that he would even attempt to strangle him in the first place. Vinnie couldn’t help but curl up a little tighter in a ball trying to keep himself calm, though was unsure if he would be able to stay calm at this point. Turning his head over to look at the time, he saw that it was about three in the morning. There was no way that he would be able to get back to sleep at this rate. No, not with the reminder of the nightmare in his mind as fresh as it was.

Lifting his gaze for a moment, Vinnie couldn’t help but stifle a sob, trying to control himself right now. Unsure if he would be able to calm down even if he could go back to sleep, there was nothing more that he could do right now. Rubbing at his face, he mumbled “I can’t… I can’t call him… it’s too early. He’ll just be pissed off if I woke him up this early.”

Taking a deep, hoping to calm himself, Vinnie managed to get himself out of bed and toward the bathroom. Wanting to wash off the remains of his nightmare from him. It was going to be a long day that was for sure. He just hoped that he would be able to function with little sleep today as he didn’t want to worry Balthazar today… or ever for that matter.

“You can do this Vinnie, you are a strong man that can hide what he’s truly feeling while hiding everything from your partner.” Vinnie told himself, hoping that would be enough to convince himself over everything that was happening with his emotional state.

Once he was sure that he had wiped away his tears, Vinnie looked at his reflection. Staring at the bi coloured eyes staring back at him. They almost looked hallow looking back at him and he knew that this would indeed be a long day. “Well… may as well eat my troubles away.”

* * *

Vinnie couldn’t help but yawn. The mission had felt like it had taken forever for him. Almost as if the time stream had slowed down the flow of time itself, which made the young man feel like time had nearly came to a stop. Though at least Balthazar had survived the mission. Wasn’t a bad or even a hard mission to say the least.

They were merely on the hunt for some prankster that was messing around with the time stream. Going to some historical events, places, and people alike to mess with them. It would even explain why Beethoven was deaf it seemed. Sadly, there was no way to fix that without messing with the time stream all the more.

Yawning against the back of his hand, Vinnie couldn’t help but make his way to the office that he and Balthazar shared. His mind kept thinking back to when he was waiting for his partner this morning for their mission. He still felt terrible for how he reacted to the blonde, but…

_Vinnie yawned as he leaned against the wall. He was going over the mission specs for the day, hoping to get an idea as to what it was that they were to be doing for the day. Then of course to make sure that nothing would happen to Balthazar while on the mission. The memory from their first mission, as well as the nightmare was still fresh in his mind._

_Maybe he was being paranoid? There was no way that one man could die again so quickly, more so when he could just as easily be saved in the long run. Shaking his head, Vinnie knew that he had to stop allowing himself to be so paranoid over the whole thing. There was no point in allowing himself to feel like that, not like it was going to happen again anyway._

_“What would the odds be for that?” Vinnie asked himself, not really expecting an answer to say the least._

_“Odds for what?”_

_Blinking his eyes a couple times, the young man looked over and saw Balthazar walking over toward him. Looking a little confused as to what Vinnie was doing, or what he was even talking about in the first place. Though if the curly haired man had to guess, the blonde was just confused to see Vinnie actually reading something instead of just standing there waiting like an idiot or something._

_Balthazar walked over to Vinnie, arms folded behind his back as he was looking down at the man. The curly haired man pushed himself away from the wall as he looked up at his partner. “So, what’s the plan today? I was going over the mission specs and have to say seems neat to catch a prankster.”_

_“Indeed it is. Though I must say it is rather refreshing to see you actually look over a mission this time.” Balthazar said as he removed one of his hands from behind his back and slowly started to reach out toward Vinnie._

_Vinnie of course, stared with wide eyes and quickly backed up away from the blonde. His breathing, as well as his heartbeat started to quicken with his fear. The image of the dream Balthazar reaching out to him, wanting to strangle him and… whatever that was, till he himself died. The young man just looked up in fear, the mission notes fallen from his hands as it hit the ground with a thump._

_Balthazar blinked his eyes in confusion. “Are… are you okay?”_

_The curly haired man blinked his eyes a couple times, before seeming to register that this wasn’t a dream this time around. That even if Balthazar did grab him in some way, that there was no way that Vinnie could decompose like rotten flesh. Once he was sure that his breathing was under control, Vinnie just gave him a big smile. “Yeah I’m okay, just tired. Sudden movements like that makes me nervous so I panic a little.” Vinnie lied, not liking the idea of lying, hated to lie but knew that this was the only thing that he could do right now._

_“Oh… I see.” Balthazar calmly said before folding his arms behind his back once again. Seeming to be a little uncomfortable with frightening Vinnie, even a little._

_Still the same as always. It seemed that a small part of Balthazar hadn’t changed. Though for now, he couldn’t really tell if this was due to the blonde either forgetting who Vinnie was, or something more. Maybe he’ll figure it out at a later date… so many things in his head to clear and sort through._

Yeah, so many thoughts going through his head. He hadn’t meant to back up in fear from Balthazar… But he had been so afraid. Covering his face, he let out a soft sigh before taking a seat in the office that he and Balthazar both shared in BOTT. For now, this was something that he would have to overcome. To try to remove all of the feelings that he had in his dreams, or else he may end up letting it slip that the blonde had actually died already.

Taking a deep breath, Vinnie leaned back in his seat, kicking his feet up onto the desk as he stared up at the ceiling. It had almost seemed as if he was still trying to overcome the trauma of his partner’s death. Even though he hadn’t actually seen the man die in front of him, he had still seen his body, surrounded by a pool of his own blood.

Vinnie shuddered at the reminder.

Yawning once again, the young man looked over at the clock and frowned a little as he saw the time. He had some time to have a little nap before he would have to fill out the paperwork. He just hoped that it would be enough time before Balthazar got into the office. Giving him a lecture that he didn’t want to deal with without a good amount of sleep under his belt.

Looking over at the time once again, Vinnie leaned his head against his shoulder as his eyelids slowly started to drift, getting heavier and heavier by the moment before he started to drift off to sleep.

Just a few minutes couldn’t hurt right?

* * *

Balthazar sighed softly as he brought the prankster to Mr. Block. Knowing fully well that Vinnie could have helped but almost the moment that they had arrived, Vinnie had up and disappeared. Most likely trying to find somewhere to eat some snacks or just lose himself in some kind of all you can eat buffet. Either way, food would be involved to say the least.

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at that. Sure he knew that he could go get himself a different partner, (he’s tried once and that was a failure) but at the same time he couldn’t help but seeming to enjoy the man’s company. Vinnie was a strange mystery to him, ever since meeting him… he had felt like something was… rather familiar.

Unsure as to why that was, because his grandmother never mentioned knowing someone named Vinnie Dakota. That much was for sure, something that he knew all too well. So that wasn’t an option, though the man did make him feel… different. Unsure as to what those feelings were, but it was not something he was against feeling to say the least.

Though knew that he had to keep the curly haired man on track. Had to ensure that he was focused on their missions as well as other tasks in their lives. It had almost seemed as if Vinnie had a one track mind, and it mostly surrounded food or having… fun.

_’Fun is well and good… but the way he goes about it, it should be all the time. Fun should be had in small doses, nothing more.’_

Taking a deep breath, hoping to calm himself so he could hurry and get the paperwork over and done with. Perhaps, Vinnie had already gotten a head start on the paperwork so they would be able to finish it much faster. After all, he seemed to have been on the ball today with their mission…

“Hm…” Balthazar hummed, thinking back to when he saw Vinnie. The man had looked kind of focused, if not a little distracted by something. Almost as if something was troubling him. Though, that was something that he would be unsure as to what it could have been that would have distracted him. Even just a little bit. It was… unlike him, from what he knows of the man thus far.

Though, when he was actually proud of the man for being prepared for their mission this time… he couldn’t help but want to reach out and pat him on the shoulder.

Yet…

When he saw the fear hitting him, reaching his eyes as he looked up at him. It was as if Vinnie had seen some kind of phantom. A ghost that only he would know about, something that only he himself could see while Balthazar was left in the dark. To see that kind of fear though, it was something that didn’t belong on Vinnie’s face that much was for sure. He knew that it was something that he wanted to figure out but… what if what Vinnie said was true? That he had been tired and was jumpy at sudden movements?

Then again, he hadn’t seen Vinnie react like that again during the mission.

Had he been lied too or was it something else entirely? He wasn’t sure, though Balthazar hoped to learn something about his partner, though just wasn’t sure how he was to do such a thing in the first place. There was still much that he didn’t know about Vinnie, but at the moment that was to be expected as this was still very early in their relationship.

Taking a deep breath, the young man made his way over toward the office that he and his partner shared. “Dakota, I hope you got started on that paperwork. There is no way that I am going to allow you to slack off and be eating whatever is bothering you out… there…” Balthazar froze in the doorway as he saw Vinnie sound asleep.

Head resting on his shoulder, arms crossed over his stomach and legs resting atop of the desk. Which was most likely a very comfortable position for the man. Balthazar had every right to march over there and force the man to wake up and do his task of the paperwork. That was the right thing to do, it was the thing that needed to be done now that they had captured the troublemaker.

Yet… remembering how exhausted the curly haired man was on their mission? The way his eyes would droop during their mission to the point that Balthazar had almost thought that the man would fall asleep behind the wheel during their travel through time. Now? Seeing him look so peaceful while he slept? Balthazar didn’t have the heart to wake him up right now.

Letting out a soft sigh, he ran his fingers through his blonde locks before looking around the room and saw a blanket in the corner. Most likely if they had to work in the office overnight. Grabbing the blanket, he carefully laid it out over Vinnie. Making sure that it would keep him warm while the paperwork was getting done. Turning his gaze to the young man as he slept, Balthazar frowned a little before reaching forward and grabbed a hold of the shorter man’s shades, removed them before setting the glasses on the desk near the man’s boot clad feet.

Turning his gaze once more onto Vinnie, Balthazar frowned as he reached out and gently ran his fingers through the man’s curly locks. “Sleep well Dakota, you most likely need the rest.” With that, he made his way to the other side of the desk, pulled out the paperwork that had been left for them earlier before he started to get to work. Though he couldn’t help but wonder… what kind of dream was Vinnie having? Most likely about food and the like, that would be something that the man would be dreaming about.

Balthazar almost… almost laughed at the idea. But for now, he settled for humming a tune that only he himself knew… him, and one other.

* * *

_Vinnie mumbled as he walked down the street. His hands dug deep into his jacket pockets as he walked down the street. The day had started out so great too! Sure, even though he was only fourteen years old, he knew that it was something that he had wanted to do for a while. Tired of having long hair, the teen had gone to a barber and had them cut his hair to an afro style thinking it would suit him the best for the time being._

_Though the moment he had gone back home, his mom demanded to know why her precious ‘daughter’ would cut her beautiful hair. That it was perfect and that any girl would want such beautiful curls and natural ringlets._

_Vinnie of course just told her the truth. That he wasn’t a girl that he was a boy that he wasn’t rebelling against her or anything. That he was just trying to be the person he knew he was to be. That he never wanted to be a girl, he felt like he was a boy that he didn’t feel right in his own skin and knew that he was living a lie, and he knew that it was nothing but the truth._

_Her reaction though was not one that he had been expecting at the time. When Vinnie was done with his speech, his mother screamed and hollered at him. That she had a freak for a daughter, a daughter that doesn’t know right from wrong. The one thing he hadn’t expected though, was for his mom to actually hit him. Punched him in the stomach, then his face giving him a black eye. Then of course kicked at his leg to knock him down before she was finally done with her assault. After that, she kicked Vinnie out of her home and told the teen that when her ‘daughter’ is ready to come back and act like a girl she was welcomed back. Until then, never to return._

_So, that left Vinnie to wander around the street. Honestly, he had at least kept his cell on him though for now there was no telling how long it would be till his mom disconnected it in the first place. Though he was on his way to his uncle’s place. Honestly, the only person that understood the teen and knew that he wasn’t a girl with how the young boy acted all this life._

_“At least I have some family that cares about me.” He whispered to himself, running his fingers through his now shorter hair. Heh… he’ll have to try to get out of that habit unless he was brushing his hair back for styling reasons._

_Looking around the street, he saw a few people were chatting among themselves. Just enjoying the winter weather so that was something to say the least. The ground was a little icy, but that was to be expected for winter._

_A chilling wind past by him, causing the teen to get cold and rubbing his gloved hands together. Hoping that would be enough to provide him some kind of warmth to say the least. Though that was easier said than done._

_Looking up at the sky, Vinnie couldn’t help but frown a little as he wondered what his friend was doing. They hadn’t seen each other for a long time actually, not since music camp. He couldn’t help but smile a little at the reminder of his friend, even just reaching up and grabbing a hold of his necklace. The only thing that he had to remind him of his friend till they could meet again. It made him feel like his friend was there with him._

_“Don’t worry Balthazar, we’ll meet again. Become amazing time agents and then we can make a difference in the world. Just like what you wanted, wanted to make a difference for those who were suffering because of the flow of time itself and we will both do it together.” Vinnie whispered, a soft smile growing upon his face as he kept staring up at the sky._

_It started to snow in that moment and he almost felt like it was some kind of message to him. Though that would be silly if he believed in any kind of spirit entity to say the least. He believed in karma sure, but nothing more as there wasn’t much more that he could do in the first place. At least, not until he could become a time agent, then he could do a lot of things._

_Maybe even get food from different time periods so he could figure out if the food was better or just as good as what is tasty now. He almost laughed at the thought of such an idea. Though it would be pretty cool if he could go back in time to try out all of the tasty foods that people used to make. Maybe even prevent some animals from going extinct. Then of course the Mississippi perches. Could work if he could prevent that, then maybe… there wouldn’t be so much crime in this world._

_Letting out a deep sigh, the teen kept on with his walk. He had a long way to go if he was going to make it to his uncle’s home, just so he had a roof over his head. Finish school, study up on what he can on time travel and then go and try to become a time agent. That shouldn’t be too bad for him in the long run right?_

_Just as he was walking past a café, he heard two women chatting among themselves._

_“Did you hear about that car crash yesterday?” One woman spoke._

_Vinnie frowned a little. Thinking that maybe it was best if he just kept walking, there was no point in trying to listen in on their conversation. He may as well keep walking._

_“Yeah, I feel so bad for them… they lost their lives in that crash. Both the parents and their son, I think it was the Cavendish family.” The other woman spoke._

_Vinnie stopped dead in his tracks in that moment._

_“Yes, to think the next heir to the Cavendish family fortune died in such a horrid car crash. The paper even said that the car burst into flames in the process. No help could have gotten to them on time.”_

_Eyes wide, tears building up within them as Vinnie looked over at the women before feeling panic and fear swelling up within his heart. No, that couldn’t be right. It had to be a different Cavendish family right? There was no way that it could be the same person, it couldn’t be possible!_

_Running off, Vinnie knew that he had to find the paper. If the crash happened yesterday then the paper would have a report on that today right?_

_Skidding to a stop, the teen ripped open the paper dispenser and pulled out the desired object into his hands. Looking through the paper, nearly ripping it in half in his haste, the teen looked through hoping that maybe there was a mistake. A typo or something, there had to be some kind of mistake right? There was no way that… that… that…_

_Soon, he came across the report…_

**_At 10:00PM of February 21st, the Cavendish family were leaving their family home to make a trip to visit a family member. Though on the way to their destination, the car slid on a patch of black ice and the car lost control. It swerved around the road till it crashed into a tree. It seemed that Silas Cavendish, was impaled by a tree branch. Dying just moments after upon impact as the branch had punctured his heart. Constance Cavendish, was just as unfortunate as her husband, though it was a shard of glass from the windshield that had broken and went through her neck._ **

****

**_Then of course, there was their young son. Balthazar Cavendish, who had seemed to have received a rather nasty head injury. Though he was unconscious after the accident as when the police was able to get to the car after the search his eyes were already closed and he hadn’t lost enough blood to have died from his injuries. Though there is no way of knowing if he would have survived if he was saved before the car had burst into flames._ **

****

**_There was no way of knowing if any of them could have been saved if help had been there earlier. Though it was a guarantee there was no way of saving neither Silas nor his wife Constance with the amount of time that had passed before they were discovered._ **

****

**_It is a sad day, for the estate of the Cavendish Family for sure._ **

_Vinnie just stared at the paper, reading it over and over again. Trying to see if what he was reading made sense. There was no way that he would have died… this couldn’t be happening. This just couldn’t be happening!_

_He felt his heartbeat quicken, as well as his breathing as tears filled his eyes. “No… you… you can’t be gone. You promised me, you promised we’d both be time travel agents together. You promised me… promised me!” He tightly shut his eyes, hoping to stop the flow of tears while crying against the paper. “Balthazar… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” He cried, repeatedly saying “No” over and over again, not wanting to believe that his friend was gone._

_Vinnie didn’t care that anyone could see him crying. That anyone would tell him to go and leave this place and go elsewhere… none of that mattered to him. Only that he had a right to mourn the loss of his friend. A friend that he had promised to see again, only to learn that he was gone and there was no way that he would ever be coming back._

_Though in that moment, the young man felt like someone was grabbing his shoulder and shaking him. Calling out “Dakota? Dakota? Dakota!”_

Vinnie’s eyes shot open in that moment, falling out of the chair with a yelp. Hitting his head on the floor in the process. The young man groaned a little as he rubbed at the back of his head. Unsure as to what had just happened. Looking up, he saw his partner looking down at him in concern. “Why are you crying? Were you having a nightmare perhaps?” asked Balthazar.

Blinking his eyes a couple times, the young man reached up and touched at his face and felt the trails of tears going down his cheeks. He was crying in his sleep it seemed. The young man rubbed at his face, hoping to remove any signs of his tears. Soon afterward, he saw a hand reaching down in front of him, causing the curly haired man to look up and blink as he saw Balthazar trying to help him up. “Thanks.” Vinnie whispered softly as he gave the blonde his hand and was pulled up to his feet.

Upon being on his feet, Vinnie dusted himself off and saw the blanket on the floor and frowned a little. That wasn’t there before so that was something odd. “Where did that come from? How long was I asleep?”

“Not very long I think. Maybe thirty minutes or a little longer.” Balthazar answered. “As for where the blanket came from, well you were asleep and most likely still exhausted. I saw how you kept falling asleep behind the wheel. Can’t have my partner sleep deprived!” He then glared at the curly haired man before him. “If you don’t get enough sleep, then you could get us killed or worse! We’d fail the mission!”

“How would failing a mission be worse than getting killed?” Vinnie pointed out.

“It just is!”

“Whatever you say Cavendish.”

The blonde glared at him for a moment before blinking his turquoise eyes in confusion. Reaching out, he grabbed a hold of Vinnie’s face to hold him still before leaning in close. The shorter man felt his heart pounding in his chest. What was he doing?! Why was he leaning in closer?! Holy shit was he trying to ki-

“You have heterochromia?” Balthazar asked in shock, his breath was so close to Vinnie’s face that he almost that that time itself was stopping or maybe his brain had shut down.

“Uh… yeah?” He whispered, trying to focus on what Balthazar was saying.

“Interesting.” The blonde said, still staring at him for a moment. A flash of familiarity seemed to hit him in that moment. Vinnie blinked his eyes as he seemed to want to say something, yet before he could it seemed that Balthazar had something else in him. For he had pulled himself back, and therefore removing his hands from the shorter man’s face. Brushing his hand along the side of his blonde locks. Vinnie almost wanted to roll his eyes only to blink at what he saw. As Balthazar brushed his own hair back, Vinnie swore that he saw a scar on his right temple. Something that he hadn’t noticed before as it was hidden by his hair.

Though he knew for a fact… that he never had that scar when they were kids.

Where did that scar come from? How did he even get it in the first place? Honestly, the man wanted to know but… at the same time he was afraid to ask. Because he was afraid as to what the answer would be. For if it was what he was thinking, it was a good chance that was the cause of the man before him forgetting Vinnie all together.

And that thought scared him more than anything in the world, next to Balthazar dying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can you guess why the paper said that Balthazar is dead, while he's actually alive? because I've had that sorted out for a while haha.


	5. Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Balthazar has another memory/dream of his past though unsure as to much more than some clues. As for Vinnie, he is conflicted on telling Balthazar the truth or not.

_Balthazar found himself wandering around the camp. Or at least he knew it was the camp from the way it looked. The open field, the cabins and other random buildings. Most of the area was still blurred from him though as he couldn’t really make out what the buildings were for and the like. It was strange that he even had this kind of memory, no matter if it was in a dream or not._

_Though, he figured it was because the promise he had made had been such a strong memory for him that it refused to fade away._

_Soon, he heard soft sniffling and quiet sobs. Blinking his eyes in confusion, the young man looked over at a stage that was just a bit further off. Most for the space for both the stage as well as the seating. It had a good deal of space for sure, though he could faintly see someone sitting at the edge of the stage. Curled up in a ball, arms resting atop of his knees and crying against them._

_“Who could that be?” asked Balthazar, not really expecting an answer as he slowly started to make his way over to the stage. Hoping that he would get some kind of a clue. Some kind of an idea as to who it could be._

_The closer he got though, he saw honey blonde hair. A green shirt and a pair of tan shorts, and he could faintly make out the lines of a red bow tie. As for the shoes, it almost made him think of children dress shoes._

_Without having to look at the child’s face, Balthazar knew that it was him. Why was he seeing himself as a child in his dream? Shouldn’t it be him living this dream as himself? It was so strange, though he couldn’t help but wonder why he was so sad to the point that he was crying like this. He felt like he was missing something, not just the memories themselves, but… just the feeling that was coursing through him._

_“There you are Balthy!” shouted a girl’s voice, causing Balthazar to look over and frown. He saw a girl that was just a little shorter than his younger-self. Her long curly hair was flying out behind her as she ran. A guitar was strapped to her back, most likely coming from some kind of performance. Or even just coming from practice of some kind._

_The boy looked up, wiping at his eyes trying to prevent the girl from finding that he had been crying. “Yeah?” Balthy said with a frown on his face._

_“Why are you here? You were playing piano and then you ended up disappearing.” She said, taking a seat next to him, adjusting her guitar to keep it from breaking._

_“I’m a terribly piano player…” Balthy said with a sniffle._

_“I don’t think that.” The girl said, obvious frown in her voice. Balthazar still couldn’t see her face, it was still blurred out, though it almost looked like that she had something on her face. Unsure as to what it could have been. Maybe glasses of some kind. “Actually, I think you have a great talent for playing piano.”_

_“Says the one that can play many instruments.” Balthy said with a small glare._

_She just giggled a little as if the boy had said a great joke. “That wasn’t by my choice though. Mom wanted me to learn many instruments because it would make me a ‘better wife’.” The way she said ‘better wife’ almost sounded like the word tasted like poison on her tongue. Made Balthazar wonder why that was in the first place._

_Balthy looked at her for a moment before he looked away. It was as if it was painful just to look at her in that moment. “I’m just a terrible player. They all hated it, hate me. No one cares about me.”_

_“I care though.”_

_“You’re the only one that does care.” Balthy said with a soft sigh before burying his face against his knees. Balthazar frowned a little. Made him think if this was one of the lowest points in his life that he had forgotten. Much like everything else that had happened in his life. So many memories were lost to him and had only recently started to surface in him. It had started lately and it made him wonder why that was._

_Shaking his head, the young man ran a hand through his blonde locks as he was wondering how he was able to get out of this pit of self-loathing._

_Soon, movement caught his eye. Turning his gaze, he saw the girl moving the guitar from her back and was starting to tune it. Balthy looked over and frowned a little in confusion. “What are you doing?” he asked._

_Why was it that no matter what happens in these dreams, his younger self never spoke her name? That was rather irritating though figured that was the way things were meant to be as even in memory, he just couldn’t recall her name, if he never knew that name but bits and pieces of memories would surface just not much._

_“You need cheering up so I’m gonna do that.” She said with a smile on her face before she started to strum away once the guitar was tuned. The music was beautiful, Balthazar had to admit that. He couldn’t help but feel captivated by the music. Even his younger self was staring in shock, was captivated much like the young man was._

_Balthazar could faintly make out the lyrics ‘Just call me up. Cause I'll always be there.’ But that was about it, everything else was lost to him in time._

_Balthy looked over at the girl with wide eyes. He couldn’t help but stare at her in shock before staring at her with his already wide eyes, widening more. When the girl was done, she had a big smile on her face before resting the guitar on her lap. “That was amazing.” The small boy said with amazement._

_“It’s something I’ve been working on for a little while. I’ve had to practice and think of the lyrics.” She had a big smile on her face before giggling a little. Balthy of course just smiled all the more. “I want this to be our song you know? A song between friends.”_

_“Okay.” Balthy said with a smile on his face. “I won’t share it with anyone.”_

_“Good! And I won’t either.” The girl said with a smile before brushing her hand over her eyes, lifting what Balthazar could best describe as glasses. And it was then that he saw her eyes. Left one was a bright and icy blue. While the other was a bright amber._

_Balthazar knew that when she was older, any man would be happy to have her as their wife._

_“We’ll always be friends right?” asked the girl._

_“Yeah… we’ll always be friends.” Answered Balthy._

_“Good! Now, let’s get back. I think the camp counselor is worried about your disappearing act. Let’s go, I think they are treating us to ice cream today.” She said before jumping off the stage and waited for Balthy. Once the boy was down, they both made their way to the cabin. Most likely to show that Balthy had been found at long last._

_Though Balthazar couldn’t help but take a deep breath. He hoped and prayed that he would be able to find his friend. Now that he had two clues as to who she was._

_The song…_

_And the eyes._

Balthazar woke up and rubbed at his face with a soft sigh. Another dream, dreams as such bothered him but at the same time was nothing more than another clue as to who his friend was. Maybe with those small clues, he would be able to learn who she is. That would be something that he could learn, and then of course those curls of hers.

Those curls, any woman would kill to have for sure though it made him wonder all the more…

_’Who is she?’_

* * *

Vinnie was walking around his home, holding a phone to his ear. He had another mission with Balthazar and knew that he had to get things done before he would leave for the day. Over the last few months, it had seemed that the blonde was a magnet for death in some way or another. With each death, was a new ‘Vinnie’ having to be sent away. And that version of himself would never know of the death that he had prevented.

Trying to keep that a secret from not just his partner, but from his boss and everyone else around him well that was starting to build up. He was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on though. There was no way that someone could die so many times and that was just something that he had no idea what to do. All he _could_ do was to find a way to prevent his partner’s death and then go back in time and stop it once he learned the cause.

Such as the time he found out that Balthazar had been chased by dogs toward a cliff.

How the hell are there wild dogs in the middle of nowhere?

That was one death that had taken a bit of time trying to figure out what he was to do on how to stop it. Though the tracks was a bit of an idea as to what had caused that death to happen. Letting out a soft sigh, Vinnie ran a hand down his face, glaring at his reflection while still holding the phone to his ear.

“Look, it doesn’t matter what I do or say. He won’t believe me that I was his childhood friend.” Vinnie mumbled into the phone.

_”How are you so sure on that though? He may believe you. After all, all you have to do is tell him is that your Trans, that you were that girl he went to camp with and there. It’s out in the open.”_ came a female voice on the phone.

“That’s easier said than done though. Don’t forget, I’ve mentioned how he’s stubborn and prefers evidence when it comes to something huge. This is huge, he won’t believe me. I don’t even know if he remembers me in the first place.” Vinnie sighed softly, unsure as to what he was to do. “Then of course there was that scar on his head. I know for a fact that he never had that before.”

A soft hum was heard from the other end of the phone. It made Vinnie wonder what it was that his friend was thinking about in the first place. There was a possibility that he was badly hurt and the injury had caused him to lose his memories of their time as children and so much more.

_”Vinnie, this is hurting you more by not telling him. By the mere fact that you know who he is, know that he was your friend and he doesn’t remember you or even about that silly promise that you both made so you’d both meet up again.”_ came the female voice, causing Vinnie to sigh a little. He knew that she was right, knew that this was painful and that it did hurt him a great deal.

Even though he never wanted to admit it, it hurt him to keep all of this bottled up. With her mentioning it of course just made all of this pain all the worse for him. Taking a deep breath, Vinnie tried to get his barings together. Closing his eyes, he was hoping to calm himself down before saying “Look, it doesn’t matter. Him remembering me or not doesn’t… it doesn’t matter. He’s here, he’s my partner… and he’s safe. That’s all that does matter. If he does remember, then that’s great.”

His friend let out a soft sigh, it was obvious that she was not happy with how he was talking right now. Though Vinnie just didn’t really mind, even though he was trying to ignore the ache in his chest at the idea of Balthazar never remembering him. Even if it was just the child version of himself that was remembered then he’d be happy. But… the man never revealed anything about the reason as to why he became a time agent.

Letting out a soft sigh, the curly haired man tried to keep himself calm and collected. Hoping that would be enough to keep him calm and collected. _”Vinnie, you do need to at least talk to him. Don’t you think of him as a friend now? Would he think of you as a friend?”_ asked the woman on the phone.

“Of course I see him as a friend. There was never a doubt about that! But…” Vinnie bit his lower lip, afraid of what Balthazar’s answer would be. Afraid of what the man would tell him, or worse that the man was transphobe much like a few of the other people in his life. The fear of losing his friend tore at him to the point that it terrified him of wanting to tell his friend of the truth.

But, there was also the nagging feeling in the back of his head. Telling him that if Balthazar really did care about him as a person then he wouldn’t care. Yet that underlining fear plagued him. It bothered him, more so since he wasn’t even sure if Balthazar even saw him as a friend in the first place. So there was no safe way of knowing if it would be safe to say the least.

_”Vinnie? You okay? You’ve been pretty quiet.”_

“Yeah… I’m okay. I… I’m just gonna finish getting ready before heading out to a mission. Cav and I have another prankster to deal with. I’ll see ya at work if we pass by each other.” Vinnie said with a weak laugh.

_”Vinnie-“_

“Bye.” With that, he hung up the phone and let out a soft sigh as he looked up at the ceiling. Yeah, he was going to have to collect himself a little before he could do anything else. But thankfully he was pretty much already ready for work. He just needed to pick up a coffee on his way to work and maybe even grab some tea.

At least he would be able to get through the day without much issue…

He hoped.

Once at work, Vinnie was already sipping at his coffee as he blinked sleepily at the time vehicle that he and Balthazar was to drive. So far their missions have been going pretty well, for that he was thankful. But it was getting harder and harder for him to focus at the moment. It had almost seemed that the world was trying to separate Balthazar from him in some way.

He wouldn’t allow that to happen. It would never happen, so long as there was air in his lungs, he would make sure that Balthazar stayed alive. That he would survive for as long as possible. Taking a deep breath he looked over at the main gate and saw the blonde walking out toward him. “Hey Cav, I brought you some tea.” He chuckled a little before handing out the cup of tea to the taller man.

Balthazar looked down at Vinnie for a brief moment before accepting the tea. “Thank you Dakota.” He sipped at his tea with one hand while looking over the mission specs with the other. “So you know what the mission is correct?”

“Yeah, another prankster messing with the timeline. Though turns out this one is messing around with Nazi’s and Hitler. Guess we have to go and stop it right?” Vinnie said with a big grin on his face as he sipped at his coffee.

Balthazar looked impressed that Vinnie was actually looking over the mission information rather than skimming it. It was always so nice when she saw that look on the blonde. The shorter man just smiled happily before he drained the last of his coffee in one go before getting in the driver’s seat. Humming to himself before starting the car. Once the radio was on, Vinnie ceased his humming.

The blonde had finished his tea before getting in the car and leaned back in the seat. “Interesting music.” Balthazar calmly said.

“I’ll listen to anything. Doesn’t matter what language it’s in, I’ll listen to it.” He chuckled a little before punching in the time, date and location as he then hit the button that would take them into the time stream.

There in the tunnel of purple and green, Vinnie turned his gaze over to Balthazar and saw the awed expression on his face once again. He couldn’t help but smile a little at the sight of such adorableness. It was just so adorable to see the man looking like that in the first place. Honestly, he had no idea how cute and adorable the man was though figured maybe that was just how Balthazar was as a whole.

Looking back ahead, the floating clocks moving around as they moved about. It always made him wonder how the clocks was put there in the first place. He would think it was some kind of joke or something a prankster did. Though since this itself wouldn’t have affected the time stream in anyway, well, there would have been no arrest in the first place.

Shrugging to himself mentally, Vinnie calmly said “So, what’s the plan Cav?”

“We have to locate the prankster by the time particles that was left behind by the stolen time vehicle that he had taken. After that, when we have the chance, we have to chase him away from any figures of the time period itself. Once he is separated from any further harm to the timeline, we can try to stop him from further damage.” Balthazar calmly said as he looked over the mission information that was in front of him.

Vinnie hummed a little in confirmation. The plan didn’t sound that bad it could work though he would have to ensure that nothing happened to his partner, as well as the timeline itself. It would take some time though there was going to be a long night to say the least. But, at the same time he wondered if this guy would end up being armed. He just hoped that wouldn’t be the case.

Taking a deep breath, the young man turned to his partner once again. Seeing that Balthazar had put the mission specs away and went back to looking over at the tunnel filled with clocks. To be honest, Vinnie couldn’t help but smile a little, feeling his heart thud quickly in his chest. How was it that the blonde could be so adorable? He wanted to hold the man and tell him everything but…

Balthazar doesn’t remember anything. Doesn’t know about him as a girl, doesn’t know about their promise… doesn’t know about anything.

Breathing in deeply, the young man turned his gaze away from the blonde and looked on ahead. Hoping that maybe that he would have an easier time with this mission. After all, what could happen on this mission?

* * *

Vinnie was running for his life. The guy that they had been hoping to capture easily to say the least, did indeed… have a ray gun!

They had managed to park their car somewhere without anyone being able to find it. Then of course they had gone to look for the man in question. Thankfully, the prankster had left a lot of time particles on him to the point that it left a trail. Though there was no way of knowing how long he had been around in this timeline, but he knew for a fact that he had to have been here for a few days.

If not maybe a little longer.

“He keeps shooting at us!” shouted Balthazar.

“Stop pointing out the obvious Cav! He’s a prankster and a criminal! We have to lure him somewhere!” Vinnie nearly cried out. Still running as quickly as he could. He may not be able to chase people very well, but he could damn well outrun people! Looking behind him, he saw the prankster wearing what he could best describe as the usual Nazi attire.

“We need to get somewhere safe. Do you know anywhere Cavendish?” asked Vinnie, looking up at his partner with wide eyes.

“Yeah, I traveled to Germany in my youth for school. The buildings are old but the layout are pretty much the same! This way!” Balthazar grabbed a hold of Vinnie’s arm and dragged him around alleyways. The prankster was close behind the two. Still firing at them in the process. Though at least they had a plan now. Now they had at least _some_ kind of a plan that would give them an idea as to how they would be able to escape from this hellhole!

Balthazar would drag him left, right, straight and so on. Any direction that would give them a better idea as to where they were to go. The walls almost seemed like tunnels in some way or another. The shorter man couldn’t help but look around as they ran. He almost swore that the prankster wasn’t firing as badly as before. Maybe the power was starting to loose charge on it? He couldn’t be sure, though it made him wonder why he was still chasing them.

Soon, Balthazar made a sharp turn and ended up in a corner. “Odd, we should have had him in this area instead.” The blonde sounded really confused, it seemed that this wasn’t what he had planned. From what Vinnie could figure out, the taller man had tried to get behind the one chasing them so they could get behind him, and have him be the one trapped.

Though just as they were about to turn around to try to get out of this area before anything could happen, both men stared in shock.

Standing there was the prankster. His slicked back black hair have a slight gleam to the two men. His twisted and insane eyes showed the two men that he wasn’t just doing this as a prank anymore, but because he wanted the Nazi’s to win this war. His smile was cruel as he pointed the gun at the two men, switching from Vinnie and Balthazar.

“Now, who should I shoot first? I can’t have you ruin my chances of allowing the Nazi’s from winning this war. I’ll make sure that they win, they are the way of the future!” shouted the prankster.

Vinnie gulped a little. He knew that he had a stun gun on him but there was only one charge per use and it would take a while for it to recharge on its own unless it was plugged into a power source. Though he would have to help get the two out of this predicament. Though the curly haired man couldn’t help but look over at his partner. And saw just how scared Balthazar was.

Balthazar had died so many times as it was, and Vinnie knew that he couldn’t allow the man to die already. Not when he had a chance to stop the attack from killing the man. The curly haired man narrowed his eyes over at the prankster as he snarled. Hoping that the blonde would take this chance to shoot at the man. Since he, like Vinnie also had a stun gun.

“You know that even if we fail, another team would come out and stop you right? The Nazi’s lost for a reason and no matter what you do, they will fail. It’s the flow of time!” He said, knowing that should he and Balthazar fail this mission, that they would most likely send someone else to stop the fucker. “So just give up you mother fucker.”

“You’ll die first.” The prankster said with a snarl.

The ray gun was pointed at Vinnie, the gun lighting up and the shorter man couldn’t help but tightly shut his eyes. If he moved, there was a good chance that Balthazar would be hit, there was no way that he would allow himself to let his friend die. No, if he had to allow himself to get hurt, so long as he moved in the right way, at best he’ll just get a hole in the arm and would have to be taken to the hospital. Worse, he’ll die.

_”Vinnie!”_ shouted a familiar voice.

Balthazar shoved the shorter man out of the way, and the ray gun had managed to hit the blonde in the chest.

Vinnie hit the ground with a loud thud as he stared at his partner with wide eyes. It had seemed as if time had slowed down for him. Seeing Balthazar hitting the ground with a thud, blood staining his jacket, it made the man see nothing but red.

Snarling, he ripped his stun gun out from his pocket and quickly shot at the fuck. He wouldn’t allow the man to get away with this. He would make sure that the fucker would get beaten to an inch of his life. That no matter what happens, he would make sure that the man would beg and plead for his life! That no matter what, Vinnie would make sure the man knew the true meaning of pain and suffering.

The man fell down to the ground, unable to move. Vinnie was about to walk over to him to start beating the shit out of him until he felt something grabbing a hold of his pant leg.

Blinking his eyes in confusion, Vinnie looked down, red still burning in his vision till he saw that the one that had grabbed him was Balthazar.

A wound to his chest, but he… he was alive.

Acting quickly, he knelt down, his rage melting away as he was checking his friend over from the injury. “How…?” Vinnie asked in shock.

“It missed anything vital.” Balthazar wheezed out, wincing in pain.

“You took the hit for me…” Vinnie whispered, trying to process everything in his head. There was no way that a partner would just take that kind of hit, more so for the bureau. Then of course there was the fact that even as children, Balthazar only took hits like that when he was trying to shield Vinnie from the bullies that hated him because he was talented in other instruments or for the fact he didn’t act like a girl. Then it hit him…

“You think of me as a friend!” He sang.

“I do not! I was merely protecting-“ Balthazar was cut off.

“You see me as a friend.” He sang once again, nearly giddy with excitement.

“Whatever… let’s just take the man to the boss.”

“First things first. I’m dropping you off at the hospital, he’ll be tied up and I’ll take him to Block. After that I’ll come by to get you from the hospital.” Vinnie calmly said.

“Fine.”

Once he tied up the prankster and shoved him in the backseat. The stun would last for a day at the least with no ill lasting effects. Balthazar had taken off his jacket, revealing the dark green shirt underneath it. He had managed to fold up his jacket and press it against his chest to stop the flow of blood from seeping through the injury. Then of course sit in the seat, sadly the wound had also reached his back a little but not as badly as the front.

As they drove, Vinnie was trying to keep himself calm and collected. He was panicked, but also giddy. Panicked because his friend was bleeding next to him, then of course the fact that Balthazar took a hit for him. Even if it meant that it could have killed him. He took a hit for him… him! Vinnie Dakota of all people! He almost wanted to cry.

Covering his face for a brief moment, Vinnie couldn’t help but had a small smile on his face. It made him almost smile, nothing could make this better right? Not a single thing that would have been better than this!

“I joined the bureau…” Balthazar started, causing Vinnie to look over at the blonde for a moment. Wondering what he was going or trying to say. Honestly, Balthazar looked exhausted, most likely from the blood loss right now.

“You don’t have to talk Cav. Just relax alright? You are bleeding after all, you know… because you took that hit for me.” Vinnie said with a small smile.

“I was trying to keep a promise.”

Vinnie stopped in his thoughts. His gaze shifted without turning his head away from before him. “I was in a bad accident when I was younger. A teenager really.” So he was in an accident? “I lost all my memories, I could still function, but I had no idea who I was but… I could recall a small memory.” Huh? “I could faintly remember a girl. A girl who I made a promise to. To meet up with her as a time agent, I had hoped to find her… to find her for information.”

“Stop talking Cav, you need to save energy.” Vinnie spoke softly, trying not to let his heart ache.

“I want to know, but I haven’t had any luck in finding her. Hoping that I could find the girl so she could tell me everything of my past.”

Why was this hurting him so much right now?

“But I haven’t had any luck. I guess… only good thing about this… was you thus far. Thank you for putting up with me Dakota.”

This hurt… he wanted to tell Balthazar the truth. That he was that girl! That he was the same person that he knew but there was that fear once again. The fear that had been bothering him for as long as he had Balthazar back in his life. But he just couldn’t do it. Not now… if ever. But he just hoped that he would be able to figure something out. That if he could keep his friend from bleeding out and get this fucker that shot him in prison of some kind then it should be good to go right?

“Am I… silly for hoping for answers Dakota?” Balthazar asked softly, looking out the window as he saw the floating clocks as they flew past the two men. Well three if you counted the stunned guy in the back.

Biting his lower lip, Vinnie wasn’t sure how to answer that without letting out his emotions to say the least. It just felt like his emotions were going haywire. After the paperwork, and getting Balthazar home he was going to drown his sorrows away in food once again. Maybe he needed to make a phone call to his friend.

Just to calm down and relax. Though that was easier said than done though.

Just hoping that their next mission is easier for the man. Just wanting to ignore all of the pain that was swirling around in his heart. But that, much like trying to find a way to tell Balthazar the truth, was easier said than done.

“Dakota?” Balthazar whispered softly.

Oh right… he never answered.

“Nah Cav, it isn’t silly at all.” He looked over at his friend with a small smile before turning back to the view before them. “Though what will be silly is most likely the turn of events that will most likely come of this.”

“What?”

“Well the war ends right? Wouldn’t it be funny if the day after the war ended, some famous person was born and there are like, so many jokes about how awesome and fearsome he is because he knows different ways of fighting styles and that there are even memes about him? That would be awesome and funny.”

“That is ridiculous Dakota. Don’t be stupid.”

Vinnie laughed. At least he could still make jokes… even if it was to lighten up his heart right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah Vinnie is conflicted to telling Balthazar the truth, also can you all guess the meaning of the bottom? I got it from a meme I found on facebook years ago.


	6. Depression

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vinnie is concerned about his friend so tries to cheer him up but also give him a lesson with music.

Laying in his bed, Vinnie stared up at the ceiling with his arms folded behind his back. He couldn’t help but think about everything that had happened on that mission. It had only been a few days since that mission came about yet, he couldn’t help but think about everything that had came about. It had felt as if it was nothing more than a dream, but at the same time he knew that it was far from it.

The mission had brought about a few things that he hadn’t thought to be possible.

First off was the fact that Balthazar shoved him out of the way. Taking a hit for him to the point that the blast could have killed him in the end. Yet, Balthazar had survived, how that was even possible when the man had died time and time again already. There just had to be something that he was missing on that one, but at the moment he was still thankful that the blonde had survived.

Secondly, there was the blinding rage that Vinnie had felt. It was something that he hadn’t felt before in his entire life. Not when he was a child, when he was being bullied to the point of tears. Nor when his mother abused and kicked him out of her house once he revealed he was Trans to her. That was something that had never angered him, not to that level of anger.

No, that level of rage and anger was something that the young man had never thought to have been possible. So much anger and hate to the point that he would beat that guy till he was within an inch of his life? Honestly, he had never thought that he would have been capable of anything like that and that kind of scared the shit outta him.

Then of course, thirdly was the fact that Balthazar opened up to him…

_Balthazar freaking Cavendish opened up to him!_

That was something that he hadn’t expected in a million years. Even should he have had a chance to live forever, there was no way that Balthazar would have opened up to him for anything. But… it was what he revealed to him that had shocked Vinnie to say the least.

Balthazar joined… because he somehow held onto a memory to become a time agent. To keep a promise, but to also learn about his childhood. For memories that had been taken from him due to an accident. An accident that should have taken his life much like how it was said to have done in the first place.

The accident… _’The accident that should have taken his life like it said it did. Yet, here he is… alive and kicking…’_ Vinnie thought to himself with a curious frown on his face. He knew for a fact that the paper had claimed that Balthazar was killed in the crash that was for sure. Yet… here the man was. Still alive and well. Despite the fact that the blonde dies on missions or just out of the blue to say the least, he is still alive and kicking.

Vinnie just couldn’t help but frown a little more. It had just seemed as if everything in its power was trying to kill Balthazar and there was no way that he would allow that to happen. Taking a deep breath, the young man pushed himself up from his bed and swung his legs over to the edge.

“I just… don’t get it.” Vinnie whispered, unsure as to what to say. What to think about this or even what was even going on. Letting out a deep sigh, the young man got up from his bed and made his way out of his room toward the bathroom. Grabbing his glasses as he did so.

Staring at his reflection in the mirror, Vinnie just blinked slowly before he slid his glasses on his face. It just seemed as if everything was trying to screw with his mind in some way and that bothered him. His memories almost felt as if they were wrong in some way or another and that bothered him to a degree. Just wasn’t sure why that was in the first place. But at the same time he knew that his memories weren’t wrong, that he knew what he remembered, but just wasn’t sure why that was in the first place.

Was he in some kind of weird time loop? No, he wasn’t repeating the same thing over and over again. Maybe something was damaged in the time stream and had to be fixed? No, if that was the case then the boss would have known and tried to fix it in some way so there had to be something wrong that he wasn’t sure what it was.

It just seemed that no matter what… nothing was making sense to him.

Groaning, Vinnie laid his forehead against his mirror as he tried to think on what he was to do. There just seemed that his mind was clouded and it bothered him. Normally he was carefree with everything around him though felt like ever since Balthazar came into his life again that it just seemed as if everything was going kind of topsy-turvy. It was baffling… but he hoped that he could understand all of this easier.

Then of course, there was the fact that he was feeling a weird clenching in his chest once in a while. It was a strange feeling, it would happen now and again. Mostly whenever Balthazar would die… that pain would come about. Yet when his friend jumped in to save him, well it wasn’t so much as a painful clench of his chest, but more of the rage he had felt. Now? He just felt the pain but that was it. It was something strange but he hoped that it would be explained later on. Just wasn’t sure why that was but for now, it was something best to be left in the back of his mind. Maybe if he ignored it it’d go away for him.

With that, he walked out of the bathroom and decided that maybe… he should go check on Balthazar.

* * *

Vinnie had made it to Balthazar’s apartment with a cup of coffee and cup of green tea. Figured that after all that the blonde himself had been through that he could use a pick me up. After all, he had been in the hospital, even if for a short while. Sure, the medicine of this time was far superior compared to the timelines that they visit, just have to go in and out. No matter if it’s for an injury such as what Balthazar went through or a broken bone.

Though, he just hoped that the blonde was at least doing well mentally.

Holding the tray in his hand, the young man knocked at the door hoping to get his friend’s attention. A soft shuffling around caused the shorter man to tilt his head at the sounds. Was Balthazar okay? That had him a little worried though wasn’t sure what he was even worried about.

Soon, the door opened, causing Vinnie to smile for a brief moment before that smile slowly faded. Balthazar was in his pajamas, he looked so exhausted. As if he hadn’t slept for days and that had the curly haired man concerned. “Uh… Cav? You okay?” Balthazar just blinked his eyes slowly at him, as if he wasn’t processing what was going on in his head. “Cavendish?”

“Dakota?” He whispered slowly, seeming to finally notice that it was Vinnie before the taller man.

“Hey, you okay?” Now Vinnie was concerned. He’s never seen the blonde like this, not even as children. This almost seemed as if it was a new low for the man and it had the shorter man all the more worried for him.

“…”

“Okay come on, inside.” Vinnie ordered as he shoved the man back inside. Looking around the apartment, he saw that it looked like it was well lived in for sure. But there was some problems that he was noticing as well. Such as the fact that there was no clear indication that it was looked after at all the last few days. Just how the hell has he been living like this without anyone noticing?

“Why are you here?” asked Balthazar.

“I thought I’d come check up on you. Good damn thing I did to! Just what the hell have you been doing since our mission?” Vinnie asked in concern before getting Balthazar to sit down on the couch, setting the tea on the table in front of him. The blonde looked at the tea for a moment before accepting the drink and sipped at it slowly. “Have you even been eating?”

“I have.” Was his whispered reply.

“Is it even enough to fill you up?” asked Vinnie while narrowing his eyes.

Balthazar didn’t speak, so that made Vinnie all the more worried about the man. Groaning, the young man rubbed at his forehead before lowering his hand and glared at the blonde before him. There is no way that he will allow the man’s health to go bad like this! “Okay, you know what? Drink your tea, I’m gonna find you something to snack on.”

“I’m fine, just ate…”

“Cav-“

“I’m fine.”

“At least tell me why you are like this! You were fine when you got out of the hospital.” Vinnie pointed out, concern lacing his words. It just made him all the more worried about the man. This was just so out of the ordinary for the blonde. Making him want to grab a hold of Balthazar’s shoulders and shake him till he could knock some sense into him… somehow.

Balthazar looked up at Vinnie for a moment before looking down. It was weird, but the sight itself… made his heart twist painfully. Again with that, it just didn’t seem normal and this was starting to irritate him to a degree. Though, he just hoped that the blonde trusted him enough to tell him the truth. Yet, just as he was about to voice his concerns again, the shorter man was interrupted.

“I guess… it hit me that I could have died back there.”

Huh?

Vinnie blinked his eyes in confusion at that one. Okay, so to the shorter man, Balthazar had already died a few times as it was. Even though he had no idea about that because of the whole ‘Vinnie going back in time to change the flow of time to ensure that Balthazar lives to see another day’ thing. But to actually see that it was hitting him well, it just made the curly haired man’s heart clench tighter like it was in some kind of vice and that just confused him all the more.

“It just finally hit you after getting home from the hospital?” Vinnie asked in confusion.

Balthazar looked away before rolling his eyes at Vinnie. As if it was stupid that he’d be confused about it in the first place. Though to be honest, the shorter man wanted to say something more about it though at the same time he just wasn’t sure how he would be able to voice what was on his mind before the blonde spoke out.

“When it hit me… that I could have died back there… I wouldn’t have become a first class agent, nor would I have been able to meet with my friend again. To learn about the childhood that I had lost.” Balthazar whispered before he let out a soft sigh before looking over at the shorter man, only to look away again. It just seemed to make Vinnie all the more confused. “So when I took the hit for you, I guess it finally hit me… that I could have died before achieving my dreams.”

Vinnie couldn’t help but look away at that one. So, Balthazar was most likely regretting his decision to save him it seems. Why did that hurt all the more? Why was his heart thudding painfully within his chest to the point that each thud, was more painful than the last? Lowering his head, he asked “Do you regret it? Saving me?”

“No!” Balthazar shouted, making Vinnie jump a little where he stood. What? “I would never regret saving you. You deserve to live just as much as I do! I just… I wished I had thought of another way to save you without nearly getting killed in the process.” He said, anger in his gaze as he tried to reason what he was saying before lowering his gaze. “I still see you as a great partner, and a friend I guess. But… I must ask you to be more careful in the future. I don’t know if I can save you as easily next time.”

_’Right, you saving me… it’s normally the other way around…’_ Vinnie thought, keeping his face from losing the small smile that grew. “Okay, then you need a day of cheering up. Best way to do that, is to go out and I have an idea!”

Balthazar frowned a little in confusion. Yup, he would totally be surprised by this trip though just hoped that it would be enough to bring a real smile to the blonde’s face.

* * *

Vinnie smiled as he parked the car. The drive here was interesting to say the least, though he just hoped that Balthazar was in a better mood. Turning his gaze to his friend, he saw that the blonde did look like he was in a better mood. Before they had left, the shorter man had made the taller man get himself cleaned up and dressed. So that was at least a good sign to say the least.

Yet, it still bothered him that he would find his partner in a state like that. It was new, and it scared him to say the least. Vinnie felt like he was missing something but he knew that he had to ask this. “Hey, Cav? Mind if I ask ya something?”

“What is it Dakota?”

“Have you… ever had depression episodes before? Because… I dunno, it just doesn’t seem like something you show often.” Vinnie asked, hoping that he wasn’t pushing any boundaries with the man. Afraid that if he was, that it would ruin the friendship that was newly formed between them.

Balthazar looked over at Vinnie for a moment, as if trying to calculate what was going on in the shorter man’s head. It seemed weird for the blonde to be staring at him like that, bothering him. He wanted to look away from it, as the stare was making him feel a little uncomfortable. The stare, intense as it was, was still just seeming to try to figure out if the shorter man was just trying to figure out what it was that had made the curly haired man even bring it up in the first place.

Vinnie was almost afraid of what the answer was going to be. Even his hands started to shake, he was about to say ‘never mind’ till Balthazar spoke.

“After losing my memories… I would have a lot of moments where I would be ‘depressed’.” Balthazar whispered softly, though a hint of sadness at the memory. That made Vinnie blink his eyes in confusion as he stared at the blonde. Unsure as to what he was to say and that baffled him. “I would see people that knew me, but I had no idea who they were. Saying we went to school together. Went to gatherings that either my parents or their parents hosted…” The blonde bit at his lower lip as he took a deep breath. Hoping to calm himself down most likely. “I felt terrible for not remembering, though a few would try to take advantage of my memory loss claiming that I still owed them money. My grandmother shot that down before I could give them anything.”

Vinnie couldn’t help but stare in shock at hearing that. How was it that Balthazar had gone through an ordeal like that? It almost made him think of some kind of hell actually. Something that he hadn’t thought to be possible, but at the same time it did make sense.

To have no memory of your life? Not even your own name? It had to have been hard, depressing even. To relearn everything about his life just so he could get by and to know that there were people who knew him but he had no idea who they were? Then they had tried to use his memory loss to an advantage to get money out of him. That just made the shorter man sick to his stomach. Made him want to find those bastards and kick their asses till they were black and blue.

Taking a deep breath, hoping to calm himself down before he did something that could scare Balthazar, Vinnie looked on ahead. Thinking maybe if he didn’t look directly at the blonde that he wouldn’t think about the negativity that his friend had gone through. “Well, just know Cavendish, that with me? You don’t have to worry about a thing. I’m not one for trying to use others for my own personal gain or anything like that. To me? I’d rather earn my own money then take it from others.”

God, he hoped that he didn’t say something stupid. Sure, he’s had to live in poverty once before for a little while. He loved getting his first check when he was paid… sure he’d love to have a million dollars or more than that but honestly, it felt nice to earn his own money.

“I appreciate that Dakota.” Balthazar calmly said before stepping out of the car. Vinnie blinked his eyes in confusion before he also stepped out of the car. Made him wonder what was going on through the taller man’s thoughts now. “So, where are we anyway?”

“Oh, we’re at the arcade. They made one here I think a couple years or so ago. Anyway, they got some neat games here and I like to come here on my days off so I can relax and unwind ya know? Or if I’m having a bad day, I come here to let out whatever I’m feeling depending on the game.” Vinnie explained with a smile. Hoping that it would explain the reason why he brought his friend here. Hoping that Balthazar understood what he was trying to do.

Balthazar looked over at Vinnie for a brief moment before looking away. “So, you brought me here in the hopes of helping me relax. Is that correct?” asked the blonde.

“Well, yeah. You were having a bad day so I thought bringing you here would help you out.” Vinnie said with a frown before looking over at the building once again. It looked like a normal building to say the least. With lights, and neon signs that had the store’s name and the like. Even deals they had on food. Though he wasn’t sure if Balthazar would see it as anything other than some kind of annoyance.

The blonde looked up at the building for a few moments before turning his gaze onto Vinnie. “Well, I am rather curious as to the kinds of games that you, yourself would play. But at the same time as to just what could be inside.” Okay, that had confused the shorter man to say the least, though he just hoped that the blonde would have some fun today.

With that, the two men went inside.

Vinnie couldn’t help but look around the arcade. It had neon lights lining the walls. A counter that would accept the tickets for prizes. Then the other counter for food and drinks. The young man had to admit, he loved coming to this place, and it was awesome and held a lot of memories for him for sure. He just hoped that this was a place that even Balthazar could enjoy with him.

They could make more memories to make up for the ones that he had lost…

Right?

Turning his gaze over to the blonde next to him, Vinnie couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in his head right now. It just seemed as if Balthazar was just looking around in confusion. As if he was trying to figure out the reason for them even being here in the first place. “So, Cavendish, what do you wanna try first?” asked the shorter man with a smile on his face.

“I do not see anything that would intrigue me to say the least.” Balthazar answered.

“Really? Nothing? I thought you’d like at least a shooting game or the whack a mole or something like that.

Balthazar blinked as he slowly turned his gaze toward the shorter man. It seemed that Vinnie had him a little curious over the game choices that he had just brought up. “Dakota, what is that up ahead?” asked the blonde, causing the curly haired man to look on where the taller man was pointing out.

Well, what he saw made Vinnie blink his eyes in shock. It was a sphere with a digital screen and a keypad. It was a new invention that someone had created maybe a year or so ago. Not a lot of people were interested in the invention but there were more people who enjoyed it then those who hated it.

Vinnie was one of the people who enjoyed this game.

Grinning like a mad man, Vinnie looked up at Balthazar and chuckled. “Cavendish, it’s a new game. They made it to be a mix of DDR and karaoke. You can do either or, or even both.” He explained.

“Really?” Balthazar asked with a tilt of his head.

Damn how was he just so adorable while being so naïve? It was amazing but at the same time Vinnie couldn’t help but find it endearing to say the least.

Chuckling, the shorter man calmly responded. “Yeah, a lot of people would like DDR, then there was people who really liked karaoke. So, I guess someone decided ‘why not we have a machine that can do both?’ and bam, this little guy was created.” Vinnie chuckled before walking over toward it and patted the machine on the side. “I spent a lot of time here when I had some of my own down time. Helped me out from my last couple partners.”

“What happened to your partners?” asked Balthazar.

Vinnie’s fingers slowly curled up in a fist as he tried to keep himself calm. Not to show any kind of emotion that would betray what he was feeling at the mention of his past partners. Turning to face his friend, the young man just smiled a little. Though it was somber perhaps. “First partner died during a mission. We weren’t together long though. It was our second mission I think it was.” He frowned a little before looking away from the blonde. Unable to looking away before letting out a soft sigh. “Second partner well, he didn’t agree with me on something and he left. Block gave him a transfer of partners so I was without for a bit. Then well, you’re my third one now.”

Balthazar seemed kind of shocked at how easy Vinnie would talk about past partners like that. Maybe he had said it a little too casually? He wasn’t sure, though he just hoped that maybe he should learn to be more carefully with his words. At least, in the future he’d have to be careful with them.

Before the shorter man could even speak, it seemed that the blonde beat him to it. “So, you would come here to let out… your frustrations? Your deep emotions that you couldn’t allow yourself to express?”

Blinking his eyes in confusion, the young man tilted his head a little before nodding. “Yeah, I do now and again. But been kind of busy lately so haven’t had a chance.”

“Why not try it then? Perhaps, you should show me how the machine works so I can better understand it.”

“You’d want to try this?”

“Perhaps.” Balthazar said, looking away as a soft blush started to dust his cheeks. Vinnie of course, couldn’t help but grin at the sight. Damn this was just so adorable to say the least.

“Sure, though really, you aren’t missing much in learning how to use it. It’s pretty simple and basic.” Vinnie explained before hitting a button on the sphere and walked inside. A metal arm came down and held onto what could be best described as a sweat band.

“What is that for?” asked Balthazar.

“Oh this, it’s used to uh…” Vinnie frowned a little, trying to think of the right words to best describe how this all worked while putting the headband on. Damn, what did they do to explain this better? Oh right… “It’s to scan brain waves or something like that. It allows the computer to follow the movements since the original DDR used a dancing pad. This one, allows free movement to gain points.” He explained, hoping that was enough. Looking over at the computer once again he punched in a couple things to do both.

The computer registered it and opened up a playlist for him to pick the song.

“Now, I normally just pick random songs but this time I think I’ll just pick one a friend has been bugging me to do for a while.” Then his eyes widened a little before reaching into his pocket and tossed it to Balthazar. “Record me actually! I need proof to show her that I could do this!” The blonde caught the phone with a frown before looking back up at the curly haired man then back at the phone. He just frowned a little before rolling his eyes. Then, the taller man started to record.

“Okay you good Cavendish?” asked Vinnie.

“Yeah, I’m good Dakota. So, what is this song that you plan on dancing and singing along too?” asked Balthazar.

“Just wait and see!” Vinnie said with a chuckle.

With that, he went through the playlist once again and grinned as he found the one that he was looking for. With that, he hit play then grabbed the microphone that was resting on the nearby stand on the machine.

Holding the microphone close to his lips, Vinnie sang the song with what could be best described as a solemn look. Maybe even somber, there was no telling what would be going on in his head. Though really, he wasn’t really thinking. Allowing his body to take to the rhythm of the music. Even if he couldn’t understand the lyrics.

Lowering his hand, Vinnie tilted his head upward. As if he was looking up at the ceiling though he had his eyes closed for a brief moment. A slow smile growing upon his face as he lowered his head once again and held the microphone close to his lips once again. The sphere of course keeping most of the sound to that area alone. He had his hand pointing to his head, a smirk upon his face only for it to slowly fade.

Clutching his hand over his chest, right over his heart, he almost looked as if he was in a deep pain. A pain that no one could ever understand. Something that only he could feel, that only he could ever truly understand. It was something that he never allowed himself to feel that often, and when they would? It would be overwhelming and that hurt… it hurt so damn much.

Tilting his head to the side, his hand lowering before he spun on his heel, as if he was about to walk away from the source of his pain. The computer registering him walking away. It was a really neat machine for sure. He was even moving as if he was walking away, yet he never moved from that spot.

Vinnie looked up ahead, as if he saw something in his path. Taking a step back, swinging his arm as if he was trying to swing something out of his path. Only to spin back onto his heels and face the machine once again. As if he was no longer trying to run away from something. Whatever that may be, no one knew.

Covering his eyes, gritting his teeth as if pain was hitting his heart once again. Pain long thought to be forgotten but he wouldn’t ever forget. His hand lowered before it rested against his chest once again. Eyes narrowed into slits before slowly moving that hand as if he wanted to share his heart with the world. Or just someone to understand him.

Shaking his head, Vinnie soon stared up toward the ceiling. As if he was looking up at the sky itself, his expression softened as if he was thinking of happy memories. It was puzzling, it almost seemed as if he was going through some kind of emotional whiplash, though there was no way of knowing, for only one person could understand his heart and that was Vinnie.

Swiping his hand at the air, as if he was pushing past something of his past. Even jumped from one foot to the other, spinning on his heel and jumped back. The beat of course had picked up no longer sounding as sad, but there was still the emotion behind the lyrics. There have been many things in his life that he never wanted to relive. Never wanting to deal with, memories that had left scars on his heart but he wouldn’t allow him to live his life the way he wanted to live it. Holding out his hand, wanting to stop the pain, to stop the force that would try to push him down and defeat him. Nothing would defeat him this time. Never again.

Throwing his head back, his upper body swaying from one side to the other in a slow motion, holding the microphone close. It almost made it seem like he was trying to simulate someone falling into a hole of despair. A hole that no one could get out, unless they are able to get out with the help from someone that actually cares, or by his own means.

Slowly shaking his head, Vinnie slowly turned on his heel once again. As if he was trying to walk away from the pain of his past. A past that he knew that he could never truly get away from. But knew, that with time the pain would lessen, but there was still so much more that he could never understand. Is that the pain itself, was so much stronger when it comes to Balthazar… why that was, he still didn’t know but it was a terrible pain.

Vinnie almost looked like he was going to fall onto the ground, as if the weight of his pain was too much. That it was pushing himself down, and trying to keep him down. To ensure that he could never get himself back up from his pain. A pain that he knew that he could never truly escape from.

Shaking his head, Vinnie managed to push himself back up onto his feet. As if he was pushing himself against the weight. The weight of course would try to beat him, trying to keep him down on his knees but he wouldn’t allow that to happen. Knowing that if he did, that if he allowed himself to be beaten by this, then he wouldn’t be able to keep saving Balthazar when he would die on missions or even just on simple outing. He would never allow his friend to die… never.

Gripping at his head, as if he was dealing with some form of trauma from his childhood. So many memories would flash in his head, Vinnie was sure that he could feel the sting of tears starting to form in the back of his eyes. He wouldn’t allow anyone to see his tears. Not Balthazar, not anyone. Never again, he would never allow anyone to see those tears. He would be the one to stop those tears. To prevent those tears from happening.

Soon, his hand slowly started to lower from his head, as if he was fighting through a pain and remembering something more positive from his life. Knowing, that he had indeed at least found one positive thing in his life once again. Balthazar. He came back into his life, even though he didn’t remember their friendship as children, he would still see it as some kind of light in his life. He soon lifted his head and stared up at the ceiling.

Holding his hand outward, as if he was trying to give something to someone. Something important, something that could protect them. Protect them from the pain that he himself had felt in his life. That no one else should ever have to feel. The pain of loss, rejection, hate… and so much more. It was something that he never wanted another person to feel and it was something he hated more than anything in the world. That people shouldn’t hate others because of who they are, but to accept.

Lowering his head, hair covering his eyes as he shook his head. People forget a lot of things in his life. Forget that he was even alive. Forget that he was a different person compared to who he was a kid. Forget, that he himself had feelings and he never wanted to keep feeling that. No, all Vinnie wanted was to feel accepted by people. There were a few that were accepting, there was without a doubt… but it wasn’t enough. There were more people that hated him, rejected him, then those who accepted him.

Falling onto his knees, Vinnie blinked his eyes a couple times when he noticed that the music was over.

Blinking his eyes a couple times, the young man looked around, wondering what was going on around him till he remembered what he was doing. Pushing himself up from his knees, the young man took off the headband and gave it to the robotic arm and set the microphone back on its stand. Stepping out of the sphere, Vinnie looked up and saw the concerned look on Balthazar’s face.

“Dakota, are you okay?” asked the blonde.

“Sure, why?” asked Vinnie with a frown.

“You seemed… kind of sad while you were moving. And, was that really dancing? It almost looked as if you were just moving, not dancing. And the music itself was in a different language.” Balthazar went on a confused rant.

Vinnie of course chuckled before patting his friend on the arm. “Calm down Cav. Let me explain okay?” He chuckled a little more before the blonde finally calmed down and handed the shorter man his phone back. “Okay see, music isn’t just about understanding the lyrics here.” He pointed at his head. “But to listen to, and to understand it here.” He then pointed to his chest, over his heart. Balthazar seemed a little more confused than before. The curly haired man chuckled a little more. “Music is about what the heart feels Cav, about the feel of things and connecting to it.”

“And the way you… um… danced?”

“Dancing can be anything. Walking? That can count as dancing. Holding your head, can count as a movement of dance depending on the song and what you feel from it.” Explained Vinnie with a smile.

“I see.” Balthazar frowned a little before looking down and blinked as he seemed to be looking at something. “That necklace…”

“Huh?” Vinnie blinked before looking down and tucked the chain necklace under his shirt. “Ah, just something I got from a friend.” He chuckled before patting his friend’s shoulder. “Let’s go, I wanna try more games before getting some food.” He chuckled all the more before grabbing his friend and starting to walk away.

Balthazar not far behind.

Though, Vinnie hoped that they would be able to understand more about his friend. Wanting to learn more and more about the man. Though that itself, would take so much time. Time, that he would be willing to use to learn about his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay the music thing? that's what I always figured. I like to listen to music in japanese and to me it doesn't matter if I can understand it or not. Sure I wouldn't mind understanding it and those that do translations, they aren't always great. Sometimes the original song sounds so much better than the translation. So what's what I figured, even told a friend about it who is also a fan of anime like I am and he siad it does make sense. Now, I used the japanese version of a song but didn't show the lyrics cause... well... japanese, so here are links for both the original and translation that I do like. listen if you want, I aint gonna force it ^-^ oh also I am sorry for not posting last weekend, I was dealing with a lot of exhaustion for over a week so barely had the energy to write, then I got a new game and uh... I tend to focus entirely on a new game to the point that I lose track of time. But at the time I was waiting for test results to come in before I could go back to work so didn't have to work that day. Only went to bed because my controller for my switch died. Anyway, enjoy and have a great day ^-^
> 
> Original that was used for the chapter  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5YshDiVlMs&ab_channel=SaintSinner169
> 
> Translation that I liked  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiJ6Msj9uPY&ab_channel=CalebHyles

**Author's Note:**

> okay, I'm gonna point out that I am working on this fic and another old one hoping that maybe working on both will help with my creatifity flow. I should also mention that I don't plan to go with episodes but they will be mentioned but not completely acted out. Since I'm not really good at completely acting out with the episodes without it seeming like copyright or something along those lines along with lack of creativity. Now, I hope that this will be a good fic, and I am also gonna mention I am trying something different with Vinnie, I won't reveal it but you may have a good idea with where I'm taking this with how the flashback/dream was and next chapter will be in Vinnie's perspective, I'm thinking that it'll mostly be in his instead of Balthazar's mostly like the last fic I did. I hope you like this fic and enjoy your day/night.


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